


Set 




Class 
Book. 



G5Pgfe!?_ 



COPYPIGKT DEPOSIT. 



Psychology for Teachers 

WITH SUGGESTIONS ON METHOD 

FOR USE 

IN HIGH SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS' INSTITUTES 



BY 



J. N. PATRICK. A. I. 

Author of "Lessons in Language," "Lessons in Grammar," and 
"Light on the Road." 



EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY 

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 

SAN FRANCISCO. 



THE U3RARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
Twu Copies Receives 

17 1902 



COPYHIOHT ENTHV 

CLASS tf-XXa Nw 
COPY 3. 



LB/05/ 
.P3 



Copyright 1901 by J. N. Patrick. 



PEEFACE 

Only the essential truths of Psychology are treated 
in this manual. An effort has been made to present 
the fundamental truths of mental science in simple 
and concise language, and to illustrate their use in the 
practical work of the schoolroom. Psychology con- 
sidered as a science, the object of profound research, 
is one thing; psychology as an educational instru- 
ment- — psychology for teachers — is quite another 
thing. With the knotty details of the science the 
teacher in high schools has absolutely nothing to do. 

Too many of the elementary text-books on this 
subject are very abstract, and wanting in illustrative 
matter that can be understood by the young teacher 
and the average high school pupil. No apology is 
needed for repeated efforts to impress important 
truths upon the teacher or for repeating in different 
phrases the central truths of the science. As sound 
methods of instruction are based upon the laws which 
govern the acquisition of knowledge, suggestions on 
method are presented in connection with the treat- 
ment of the most important subjects. 
3 



4 PEE FACE 

The work is presented to the educational public in 
the belief that it is a clearer and simpler statement of 
the principles or laws which govern mental develop- 
ment than is found in the elementary texts now before 
the public. The book, however, is not a series of 
baby-talks on psychology and method. The presenta- 
tion of a subject which requires no thinking on the 
part of the reader is worthless for educational pur- 
poses. As often as the limits of the book would per- 
mit, the writer has quoted from psychologists and 
educators to reinforce his convictions. 

Little claim is made to original ideas. If there 
is anything original in the treatment of the subject, 
the originality consists in stating in the simplest lan- 
guage what others have stated in terms which must 
be translated before they can be understood or applied 
by the average teacher or layman. An effort has 
been made to hold the discussion close to the title 
of the book — Psychology for Teachees. 

It is a pleasure to acknowledge indebtedness to the 
works of Sully, James, Ladd, Dewey, Davis, and the 
new English work, Psychology in the Schoolroom. 
Without the help of these texts this unpretentious 
little volume could not have been written. 

J. N. P. 

St. Louis, Mo., 1902. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGES 

i. Introductory Topics .... 7-60 

ii. Attention 61-92 

in. Sensation — Perception . . . 93-134 

iv. Memory 135-160 

v. Imagination 161-188 

vi. Association — Apperception . . 189-218 

vii. Conception 219-248 

vin. Judgment — Eeason .... 249-282 

ix. Feeling— Will 283-322 

x. Habit 323-348 

Index, . 349-352 



" MAKE THE PUPILS THINK " 

" For the purpose of testing the quality of gold alloy, jewelers 
formerly used a fine-grained dark stone called the touchstone. 
In the eyes of an educator good instruction is more precious than 
pure gold. The touchstone by which he tests the quality of in- 
struction, so as to distinguish genuine teaching from its counter- 
feit, rote teaching, is thinking. The schoolmaster who teaches 
by rote is satisfied if the pupils repeat his words or those of 
the book; the true teacher sees to it that the pupils think 
the thoughts which the words convey. 

"The school makes possible the higher life when it teaches 
the pupil to think. Eight thinking puts intelligence into the 
labor of his hands, increases his earning power, lays the founda- 
tion for his physical being, and lifts him above an existence that 
is a mere struggle for bread. It promotes the higher life by 
teaching him to think God's thoughts, as enshrined in all his 
works, and the best thoughts of the best men, as embodied in 
literature and the humanities. It fits the pupil for complete 
living by developing in him the power to appreciate the beauti- 
ful in nature and art, power to think the true and to will the 
good, power to live the life of thought, faith, hope, and love." 

Nathan C. Schaeffer, LL.D. 



Psychology foe Teachees 



CHAPTER I 
INTRODUCTORY TOPICS 

We all talk about mind in a familiar way, for every 
one has a mind. Every one believes that he has some- 
thing within him that knows, and feels, and wills. 
This something is called mind. The science which 
examines and deals with the workings of mind is 
called mental science or psychology. As conscious- 
ness is the general name for all possible mental opera- 
tions, it is important to know at the outset what is 
meant by the term . A careful study of the following 
illustrations will help the student to understand what 
is meant by consciousness. 

Falling to sleep and awakening from sleep illustrate 
forms and states of consciousness. As one sinks grad- 
ually to sleep he becomes less and less conscious ; as 
he awakens gradually from sleep he becomes more 
and more conscious. When a man receives a severe 
blow on the head he becomes unconscious. When he 
comes to his senses again he simply comes to con- 
7 



8 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

sciousness. That, in the mental life of man, which 
rises and falls is consciousness. Attention, percep- 
tion, memory, imagination, feeling, and willing are 
forms of consciousness. Attending to anything, per- 
ceiving anything, remembering anything are mental 
activities or states of consciousness. 

"Consciousness," says Ribot, "is the word which 
expresses in the most general way the various mani- 
festations of psychological life. It consists of a con- 
tinuous current of sensations, ideas, volitions, and 
feelings." Consciousness is the distinguishing char- 
acteristic of mind ; hence a clear idea of what is meant 
by the term is very important. 

The facts of consciousness differ from other facts 
in one important particular. They are individual 
facts. They exist only for the one who experiences 
them. A fact of arithmetic or physiology exists for 
every one who wishes to study it. The facts of other 
sciences are universal facts — facts which lie open to 
the observation of all, objective facts. The facts of 
psychology, or the phenomena of mental states, are 
facts of my mind or of your mind, and are known 
only to me or to you. These mental states are sub- 
jective facts, known to the self by looking inward. 

Little progress will be made in this study until the 
difference between subjective and objective facts is 
clearly perceived. It is one thing to learn about a 



INTBODUCTORY TOPICS 9 

fact theoretically, and quite another thing to feel that 
you know it, and that you can practically apply it. 
It is the application of a principle that yields inspira- 
tion, purpose, and knowledge. The definitions and 
illustrations given in this chapter must be mastered 
by the pupil or the subsequent chapters will have 
little or no meaning. The fundamental facts of 
psychology are as demonstrable to the self as the 
facts of geometry are to others. Memory, attention, 
and will are facts as truly as weight, light, and elec- 
tricity. As the growth of all minds is governed by 
the same general laws, the teacher that knows how 
his own mind acquires knowledge is better qualified to 
aid others in acquiring knowledge than one who is 
totally ignorant of those laws. 

From the foregoing statements psychology may be 
defined as follows: 1. "Psychology is the descrip- 
tion and explanation of states of consciousness as 
such." 2. "By states of consciousness are meant 
such things as sensations, desires, emotions, volitions, 
and the like." 3. Psychology is the scientific study 
of mental operations. 

Mind — Body. — As yet we do not know what mind 
is or its precise connection with the body, but we do 
know how it acts and in some measure its influence 
over the body. Whatever may be the nature of 
mind we know that it has a close connection with the 



10 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

body, and that it depends on the nervous system 
for the material on which it works, and which in a 
mysterious way it converts into thought. Marvelous 
as are the mind's achievements, it as dependent on 
the nervous system as the plant is on the sun. 
Ample proof of the dependence of the mind on the 
nervous system for the raw materials of knowledge is 
readily furnished. Mental images and general no- 
tions are derived from the material furnished by the 
senses. The child born blind can never acquire the 
images or the notions formed through the sense of 
sight. The child born deaf can never acquire the 
percept sound, and so on. 

Up to the present time our physicians have studied 
the anatomy and physiology of the brain, but they 
have sadly neglected to study its functions. The 
chief function of the brain is to receive, associate, and 
retain impressions received through the senses, and to 
reproduce them when called on. The brain is the 
guardian and the servant of the mind. Thoughts are 
formed by associated suggestions, but they are de- 
pendent on the brain for their retention, and are un- 
unable to take form in expression without the assist- 
ance of the brain. Through the mind the function of 
every organ of the body may be assisted or retarded. 
It is through the action of the mind on the body that 
many diseases are produced, and many are cured. 



INTRODUCTORY TOPICS 11 

As before stated, we receive impressions through 
the senses. These impressions may unconsciously 
interfere with or assist bodily functions. A disgust- 
ing sight may instantly destroy a ravenous appetite. 
The sight of a delicacy may cause the saliva to flow. 
Through the sense of hearing news may be received 
which will depress and produce shock, cause worry, 
grief, and nervousness. Any of these conditions will 
destroy an appetite and retard digestion or produce 
vomiting. Good news, inspiring music, bright sto- 
ries, cheerful voices will remove depression, assist di- 
gestion, and create an appetite. Some odors call up 
unpleasant memories which produce depressing lines 
of thought, while others again may be obnoxious 
enough to nauseate or destroy an appetite. 

Mind — Matter. — We do not know the nature of 
mind; we define it by its properties or powers. 
Mind is that which knows, feels, and wills. Think- 
ing, feeling, and willing are not physical phenomena, 
*. e., phenomena of matter. It is not the body that 
thinks, feels, and wills. If mind is not matter it is 
spirit. If mind is not matter it is a simple, indivisi- 
ble unit of energy. If mind is not matter and is in- 
divisible it cannot lose its identity. Mind is not mat- 
ter, for we know that the properties of mind and the 
properties of matter are essentially different. There 
is an absolute contradiction between the attributes 



12 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

of matter and the attributes of mind. Matter is 
changeable, and is ever renewing itself; mind is un- 
changeable and identical. Matter occupies space; 
mind does not. Matter is something outside of us ; 
it is objective. Mind is something within us; it is 
subjective. Mind has reference to the ego, to the 
self. Matter has reference to the non-ego, to the 
non-self. lu studying mind we must not forget that 
there is something back of all phenomena still un- 
known and probably unknowable. We really know 
nothing of the nature of mind or matter; but we 
know that consciousness is a characteristic of mind, 
and that extension is a characteristic of matter. 
Here our knowledge ends. 

The internal world is affected by the objects of the 
external world and perceives them. All that is ap- 
prehended through the senses is of the external 
world, and is classed as matter. Bain says: " There 
are two widely different phenomena: one, conscious- 
ness or mind; the other, matter or material order; 
both are intimately connected. We must study the 
being of each in its own manner to recognize the gen- 
eral laws of their union, and to follow them to the 
explanation of separate facts. The mind is destined 
to be a double study, to unite the philosopher with 
the naturalist." 

Mind. — The word mind is here used in the sense in 



INTEODUCTOBY TOPICS 13 

which the word soul is used by some writers. The 
mind is the knowing, feeling, and willing part 
of us. More exactly, mind is that which manifests 
in our processes of knowing, feeling, and willing. 
We can study the phenomena of mind, but not 
its nature. The mind is, and it knows that it is. 
The mind knows, and it is conscious that it knows. 
The mind feels, and it is conscious that it feels. 
The mind wills, and it is conscious that it wills. 
The terms soul, spirit, ego, self, and subject are some- 
times used as synonymous with mind. 

Mental activity is based on the results of sense- 
perception with which it starts. That is, knowledge 
takes its rise in the senses. All agree that no mental 
life is possible until by means of the nervous system 
sensations are brought to the brain. All forms of 
mental life depend on the stimulation of the nervous 
system. It is true that mental life presupposes more 
than a use of the senses, but mental life starts with 
the material furnished by the senses. As mental 
facts cannot be properly studied apart from the phy- 
sical environment of which they take cognizance, we 
will briefly describe the nervous system. 

The Nervous System. — The instrument by which 
the mind communicates with the external world is the 
nervous system. The elements of the nervous system 
are nerve-fibers and nerve-cells. 



14 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

Nerve-Fibers. — A nerve-fiber consists of a thin, 
outer membrane, a white, semi-liquid sheath, and a 
translucent cylinder. The nerve-fibers constitute the 
white-matter of the nervous system. Nerve-fibers 
serve as lines of connection, uniting nerve-centers and 
communicating with the sense-organs. Nerve-fibers 
do not create; they only transmit. There are two 
classes of nerve-fibers, the sensory or afferent, and 
the motor or efferent. The sensory or afferent 
nerves carry impressions from the sense-organs to 
nerve centers. Each afferent nerve comes from a 
different part of the body, and is excited to its inward 
activity by a particular force in the outside world. 
The motor or efferent nerves carry motor impulses 
to the muscles. Nerves are arranged in pairs and 
traverse every portion of the body, one nerve of each 
pair carrying the raw material of knowledge to the 
brain, the other carrying orders from the brain to the 
surface of the body. 

A simple illustration will show how the nerves 
serve as messengers in carrying messages to and 
from the brain. By touching a burning coal with 
your finger you will set in motion a highly interesting 
process. The burning coal will irritate the end of 
a sense-organ, and the irritation, in the form of a 
vibration, will be carried along a sensory nerve to a 
nerve-cell in the brain, where, in some mysterious 



INTBODUCTOBY TOPICS 15 

way, it is transformed into a sensation. The mind 
will seize and interpret this sensation and will imme- 
diately send a message to the finger tip by a motor 
nerve, the companion of the sensory nerve, telling 
the finger to move away from the hot coal. 

Nerve-Gells. — A nerve-cell is a granular body with 
a minute nucleus containing nuclei. 

CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM. 

The Brain. — The brain is situated within the cavity 
of the skull. The front part of the brain is called 
the cerebrum. The back part of the brain is called 
the cerebellum. The brain, being the seat of the 
mind, is the dominant organ of the body. The part 
of the body most intimately connected with the mind 
is the brain. The brain is the chief part of the nerv- 
ous system. It influences every muscle and nerve 
and even the mind itself. A healthy, vigorous brain 
is a condition of vigorous thinking. The anatomy of 
the brain is intricate, and the functions of its mem- 
bers are obscure. Mind is a mystery. The thinking 
man is the greatest triumph of the Creative Power. 

The Cerebrum. — The cerebrum, or large brain, is 
the supreme nerve center. It is situated in the upper 
portion of the skull, and is divided into two parts. 
The cerebrum is the seat and the immediate organ of 
the mind. Impressions from the external world, act- 



16 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

ing through the afferent nerve fibers and causing dis- 
turbances in the nerve-cells of the cortex, in some 
way affect the mind. The mind through the cerebrum 
has control of the voluntary movements of the body. 

The Cerebellum. — The cerebellum, or little brain, 
is situated beneath the posterior part of the cerebrum. 
The cerebellum regulates muscular movements, re- 
ceives, and carries out the behests of the cerebrum. 

The Spinal Cord. — The spinal cord extends down- 
ward from the base of the skull. It is composed of a 
gray axis, consisting of fused ganglia and connecting 
nerve-fibers and cords. It acts as a conductor to and 
from the brain. It is enclosed within the spinal col- 
umn for protection, and is made of nerve-cells, coated 
with nerve fibers. It is used as the main channel of 
communication between the brain and the extremities 
of the body. Thirty-one pairs of nerves branch off 
from the spinal cord and form a complete telegraphic 
or telephonic system, connecting the brain with every 
part of the body. 

Medulla Oblongata. — The upper end of the spinal 
cord is enlarged and called the medulla oblongata. 
It acts as a conductor between the spinal cord and 
the cerebellum and cerebrum. 

The functions of the different parts of the body 
are performed through the influence of the nerves. 
The nerves pass from centers in the brain and the 



IXTBODUCTOBY TOPICS 17 

spinal cord to the bones, the joints, the muscles, and 
the heart. As the sense-organs are fully described in 
the common school text-books on anatomy, we will 
mention only the points which most directly concern 
the student of mental science or psychology. 

SENSE AND SENSE-ORGAN. 

Sense. — Sense is a power of the soul to know a 
particular external impression. 

Sense-Organ. — A sense-organ is the part of the 
terminal apparatus of the nervous organism that 
furnishes the soul with impressions in the act of 
perception. 

The special senses are five in number: sight, 
hearing, touch, smell, taste. They are called spe- 
cial senses, for each has a special sense-organ which 
furnishes the elements of perception. 

Sight. — The organ of the sense of sight is the eye- 
ball. The eye-ball is a camera obscura, having in 
front a combination of lenses which bring pencils of 
light to foci on the retina, lining the interior. The 
image of the object seen is thrown upon the retina of 
the eye. There are two inverted images, one in each 
eye. The primary percept of the sense of sight is 
color. Seeing is a special sense-perception; color is 
its primary object, the thing perceived. Besides 
color the sense of sight perceives extension. 



18 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEAGEEBS 

Hearing. — The organ of the sense of hearing is the 
ear, a very complex organ. The percept of the sense 
of hearing is sound. Hearing is a specific sense-per- 
ception; sound is the thing perceived. The ear con- 
sists of three parts : the external ear, or auditory 
canal, which collects the sound waves; the middle 
ear, or tympanum; and the internal ear. Sensa- 
tions of sound are very numerous and are attended 
with perceptions of position and distance. Sensa- 
tions of sound are the bases of music and articulate 
speech. The sense of hearing ranks high as an intel- 
lectual or knowledge-giving sense. 

Touch. — The organ of the sense of touch is the 
skin. The skin consists of a superficial layer, the 
epidermis, and a subjacent layer, the dermis, in 
which capillary nerves terminate. The percept of 
the sense of touch is physical solidity or impenetra- 
bility, one of the defining qualities of a body. The 
action of touch is one of pressure. Pressure sets 
up vibrations in the touch corpuscles (touch cor- 
puscles are the end organs of the afferent or incarry- 
ing nerves), and the nerve filaments convey the vibra- 
tions to the brain, where they are received and inter- 
preted as sensations of touch. Through the skin we 
get several kinds of sensations : touch proper, heat, 
cold, and pain. We can with more or less accuracy 
localize the sensation of touch. 



INTBODUCTOBY TOPICS 19 

The sense of touch gives us ideas of the softness or 
hardness of a body ; of the elasticity and inertia of a 
body; of the roughness or smoothness of a body. 
The hardness or softness of a body can be discovered 
by running the hand over it, by compressing it, by 
moulding it, by handling it in various ways. The 
sense of touch gives rise to several classes of distin- 
guishable sensations. Those of the gentle touch, as 
when a finger is laid softly on a smooth surface; 
those of acute pain, as when a sharp point is touched; 
those of temperature, as when the hand is placed on a 
hot surface; those of pressure, as when a light weight 
is laid on the surface. All tactile sensations are re- 
ferred to the surface of the body. It is thus clear 
that the sense of touch is a very important ' ' soul- 
gate." Many believe that touch is the most impor- 
tant of the five special senses. 

Smell. — The organ of the sense of smell is the 
vaulted chamber situated above the nostrils between 
the eyes. The mucus membrane, lining this cavity, 
is supplied with a great number of olfactory nerves 
for the reception of odorous particles. The percept 
of the sense of smell is an odor. The sensations of 
smell are localized in the nose and referred to its in- 
terior surface. Substances possessing odors give off 
minute vibrating particles. These particles touch the 
olfactory cells connected with the nerve endings and 



20 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHES S 

stimulate them. These stimulations are conveyed by 
the olfactory nerves to the brain and there interpre- 
ted as sensations of smell. The sense of smell gives 
the existence of a body only one quality, odor. It 
does not give body extension or place, nor does it lo- 
calize it in the same definite way that the higher 
senses do. 

Taste. — The organs of the sense of taste are the 
tongue and the palate. The mucus membranes 
which cover these organs are filled with nervous fila- 
ments. The percept of the sense of taste is savor. 
The excitant of taste is sapid matter dissolved in the 
moisture of the mucus membrane. If the matter is 
not soluble, the sensation of taste cannot be excited. 
The particles of the substance to be tasted must come 
into contact with the gustatory cells or the sensation 
of taste cannot be felt. The dissolved matter must 
stimulate the nerve endings ; the stimulation is then 
carried to the brain, where it is interpreted as a sensa- 
tion of taste. 

Taste — Smell. — Taste and smell are regarded as 
the inferior senses. That is, they are relatively of 
less importance than sight, hearing, and touch. 
Taste and smell are directly connected with the or- 
ganic sensations; sight, hearing, and touch, with 
intellectual operations. The sensations which taste 
and smell supply are wanting in definiteness. Taste 



INTBODUCTOBY TOPICS 21 

is often confused with smell. The sensations are 
variable, sometimes strong, sometimes weak. They 
are very limited in their use, for only a comparatively 
few objects are capable of being tasted or smelt. 
These sensations are not easily recalled. The child 
who cannot see, hear, and feel has but a limited stock 
of perceptions. 

Muscular Sense. — A muscular sense is a sense 
which immediately accompanies the action of the 
muscles. The sense organ is a muscle. A muscular 
sense consists of the sum of simple, mental states 
which accompany the action of the muscles. 

The foregoing brief survey of the five special 
senses shows that each sense contributes but one 
kind of raw material to the mental stock, and that 
each contribution is intended for man's use and en- 
joyment. It also shows that the loss of any one of 
the senses would materially lessen a person's capacity 
for enjoyment in life ; that the loss of any two of 
them would rob life of half its charms. 

Knowledge Obtained by the Senses. — That we 
may know what knowledge is furnished by each of 
the special senses in a given case we will apply the 
sense-organs to an orange. By the sense of sight we 
perceive a colored extension. By the sense of hear- 
ing we obtain various sounds as the orange is struck 
or allowed to fall from different heights. By the 



22 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

sense of touch we know the orange to possess resist- 
ance, which we name hardness or softness ; surface, as 
rough or smooth ; extension, which by handling we 
learn is spherical. By the sense of smell we obtain a 
pleasant and pungent odor. By the sense of taste we 
obtain the flavor. 

IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Psychology, like the objective sciences, must be 
studied in its own, special language. The student 
must know what the special terms mean and be able 
to give content to them. The following important 
definitions should be committed to memory and illus- 
trated by the pupil. The illustrations should be 
studied, and original illustrations substituted for 
those in the text. It is the teacher's duty to know 
that his pupils understand what they have learned. 
Mental training means intellectual life; memory 
cramming means intellectual death. 

Self. — Self is a term used to denote mind, or soul, 
or spirit, the ego. 

Psychic. — The adjectives psychic and psychical 
pertain to mind or soul. 

Intellect. — Intellect is the soul's power to know. 

Sensibility. — Sensibility is the soul's power to feel. 
Under feeling is included all pleasurable and painful 
conditions of the mind. 



USTTRODUCTOBY TOPICS 23 

Will. — Will is the soul's power to choose, to direct 
the self. Willing covers all mental operations, all the 
doings of the self. These three powers constitute 
the mind. It is important to keep constantly in view 
the fact that mind is an indivisible unit of energy; 
that it acts as one. Its modes of action are clearly 
distinguishable, but wholly inseparable one from an- 
other. As intellect mind knows; as sensibility it 
feels; as will it acts. These three elementary powers 
are involved in every conscious act. They are not 
three different forms of consciousness, but three dif- 
ferent modes of the same consciousness. 

Faculty. — Faculty is a natural power of the mind 
by which it acts uniformly and with facility in some 
specific way. Psychology recognizes certain species 
of knowing, feeling, and willing under the head of 
faculties, capabilities, or powers. We speak of intel- 
lectual faculties, such as perception, imagination; 
emotional capacities, as love, anger. Faculty is a 
power of the mind to change. Capacity is a power 
of the mind to be changed. Faculty is a power to 
impart. Capacity is a power to receive. The facul- 
ties are active; the capacities, passive. 

Knowing, feeling, and willing are not different 
parts of mind, but different phases of the same 
mind. That is, knowing, feeling, and willing are the 
properties of an indivisible unit of energy, of an in- 



24 PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

divisible trinity, called mind. These three properties 
cannot be isolated from mind nor from one another. 
Since it is easier to reason about one thing at a time 
than to reason about three things, we shall speak of 
knowing, feeling, and willing as though they were 
three distinct states of consciousness. In every con- 
scious mental act each phase of consciousness is in a 
struggle for the mastery. When one solves a problem 
intellect is master ; when one is sorry feeling as emo- 
tion is master ; when one acts will is master. 

While knowing, feeling, and willing are broadly 
marked off from one another and are opposed to one 
another, they are in a way closely connected. Mind 
is not a material object which can be separated into 
distinct parts, but an organic unity made up of parts, 
standing in the closest relation of interdependence. 
Or to put it in another way, knowing, feeling, and 
willing are properties of mind, and cannot exist in 
perfect isolation from one another any more than the 
color, the form, and the size of a plant can exist alone. 

Simple illustrations will show that the three ele- 
ments of soul-life are inseparably connected, and 
that one state of consciousness grows out of and into 
another. "A boy falls down and hurts himself." I 
look at the wound and see that it should be bound up 
(knowing) ; I feel sorry for him (feeling') ; I proceed 
to bind the wound (willing). I hear that a friend 



INTBODUCTOBY TOPICS 25 

has passed a difficult examination (knowing) ; I re- 
joice at his success (feeling) ; I send him a congratu- 
latory telegram (willing). 

Knowledge. — Knowledge is the soul's certitude of 
objects presented to it through the senses. Thus, I 
take an apple in my hand, and know that I have it, 
and that it differs from other surrounding objects. 
Knowledge is presentative or representative. 

Presentative Knowledge. — Presentative knowledge 
is knowledge acquired through the senses, knowledge 
that is presented immediately to the soul when it 
attends to what is within it or about it. Thus, the 
soul's presentative knowledge of an apple is obtained 
through the five senses. The soul's knowledge of 
sound is obtained through the ear ; of sight, through 
the eye; of taste, through the tongue. It follows 
that knowledge will be trustworthy or broad and deep 
only when the senses are strong and active. 

Representative Knowledge. — Eepresentative knowl- 
edge is knowledge brought before the mind in the 
form of images or notions. "Eepresentative knowl- 
edge is knowledge of objects, qualities, or relations, 
not actually present to the senses, but represented by 
ideas." Eepresentative objects are mental objects. 
I saw my son yesterday as an external object present 
to the senses — presentative knowledge. I see him 
now as a mental picture — representative knowledge. 



26 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

As representative knowledge is presentative knowl- 
edge revived, it follows that the revived objects are 
less vivid than the original ones. The image of my 
son's face is not as vivid as the percept. Representa- 
tive objects are never complete in detail. Why not? 
Any experience of the soul may live again in memory 
as representative knowledge. Why is this so? 

Representation. — "Representation is the act of 
reproducing a percept or any former conscious expe- 
rience in the form of an image or representative 
idea." Knowledge, acquired through the senses, 
would be practically valueless if it could not be re- 
tained and reproduced at will. The presentative fac- 
ulties would be quite useless if they could not be 
supplemented by the representative faculties. Per- 
ception would mean almost nothing if the percept 
could not be recalled as an image by memory. If 
things left no impression the mind would never ac- 
cumulate a stock of impressions to work on. If an 
impression acquired through the senses could not 
again be re-presented by an image or an idea, one 
would not be wiser at twenty than he was at birth. 
The point of direct value to the teacher in this matter 
is this : the character of representative knowledge 
depends on the completeness of the presentative 
knowledge, on the clearness of the perception. Ap- 
ply this fact in the schoolroom. 



INTRODUCTORY TOPICS 27 

Consciousness. — "Consciousness is the soul's im- 
mediate knowledge of whatever takes place in any 
part of our being." This is the power of the mind 
by which it knows its own acts and states. " Con- 
sciousness is that indefinable characteristic of mental 
states that causes us to be aware of them." The im- 
mediate condition of a state of consciousness is an ac- 
tivity of some sort in the cerebral hemispheres. 

Note. — Part of an ordinary definition consists in showing that 
the thing defined belongs to some larger class. But conscious- 
ness cannot he defined in this way, because there is no more gen- 
eral term under which it may be brought. The term consciousness 
must not be confused with conscientiousness — a word having ref- 
erence to the conscience, and not directly to conscious life. 

Self - Consciousness. — Self - consciousness is the 
soul's knowledge of itself. In every act of knowl- 
edge there are three elements : the knowing subject, 
the self ; the object of knowledge, the thing known ; 
and the state of the soul as affected by the object of 
knowledge. Self -consciousness is the foundation of 
all knowledge, because the soul's testimony to its 
own experiences is the only evidence of their reality. 

I — Me. — Prof. James says : "Whatever I may be 
thinking of, I am always more or less aware of my- 
self, of my personal existence." In this simple state- 
ment of a psychological fact, it is clear that the total 
self is a duplex being, that it is both the hnower and 
the known. That is, the self is both / and me. The 



28 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

self as knowing is I; the self as known is me. The 
pronoun "I," used to indicate the conscious self, is a 
late acquisition in the psychical experience of a child. 
Tennyson very beautifully expresses the truth on 

this point: 

" The baby, new to earth and sky, 

"What time his tender palm is pressed 
Against the circle of the breast 
Has never thought that this is I. 

" But as he grows, he gathers much, 
And learns the use of ' I ' and ' me ', 
And finds I am not what I see, 
And other than the things I touch ; 

" So rounds he to a separate mind. 

From whence clear memory may begin, 
And thro' the frame that binds him in, 
His isolation grows defined." 
Field of Consciousness. — The field of conscious- 
ness includes the part of consciousness on which the 
attention is directly fixed, also the margin of con- 
sciousness. (Teacher will illustrate.) 

Margin of Consciousness. — The margin of con- 
sciousness occupies air that part of the field of con- 
sciousness not occupied by the special object of 
interest. (The teacher will illustrate. The class will 
also explain the definition.) 

Focus of Consciousness. — The focus of conscious- 
ness covers only that part of the field of conscious- 
ness which contains the object of special interest. 



INTEODUCTOBY TOPICS 29 

To focus means to adjust, to bring to a point, to con- 
centrate. (The teacher will give one example to illus- 
trate this definition; the class will give another.) 

Nature of the Study. — As mind is that which 
knows, feels, and wills, the method of studying its 
acts and states necessarily differs from the method 
employed in studying the objective sciences. To 
study mind is to look inward on its acts and states. 
To study the objective sciences is to look outward 
through the senses. Mind is subjective; all else is 
objective. Psychology deals only with subjective 
facts; hence the senses cannot be employed in ob- 
serving and in studying these facts. Only by look- 
ing inward on the self can the student of mental 
phenomena know that the statements of psychol- 
ogists are true. 

Introspection. — Introspection is a looking inward 
on the self and observing its actions and states. 
(Teacher will illustrate.) 

Subjective — Objective. — The mind's attitude is 
subjective when it introspects, when its mental gaze 
is turned inward on the self. The mind's attitude is 
objective when it is looking at things in the outer 
world. The subject in psychology is that which ex- 
periences; the object is that which is experienced. 
Mental objects are formed by the mind. The image 
of my friend's face is as distinct to the mind's eye 



30 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

when both physical eyes are closed as it is when they 
are both open. 

"My eyes make pictures, when they are shut: 
I see a fountain, large and fair, 
A willow and a ruined hut." 

By subjective is meant anything belonging to or 
existing only in the mind ; by objective is meant any- 
thing else. The student of psychology examines his 
own states of consciousness in a series of " self- 
studies" or " subject-lessons." The student of phy- 
siology examines the human body through the senses. 
Subject-lessons give a direct knowledge of the mind 
world. Object-lessons give a direct knowledge of the 
material world. 

Mental Growth. — Mental growth means an in- 
crease in the stock of mental materials. (The teacher 
will illustrate what is meant by mental material.) 

Mental Development. — Mental development means 
the elaboration of mental material into complex 
forms. Sensation and perception supply the mate- 
rial; memory, imagination, judgment, and reason use 
the material in mental development. (Teacher will 
illustrate this fact.) 

Mental development is a gradual growth, an evolu- 
tion. Step by step mental operations become more 
and more complex. Sensation, the beginning of 
mental life or the process of receiving external im- 



INTRODUCTORY TOPICS 31 

pressions by the mind, is followed by perception, 
which is more complex than sensation; perception 
groups together a number of impressions under the 
form of a percept. Perception is followed by 
memory, which is more complex than perception ; in 
memory the mind pictures or has images of what was 
perceived. Memory is followed by conception, which 
is more complex than memory; conception forms 
concepts or general notions out of a number of men- 
tal images. Conception is followed by judgment, 
which is more complex than conception; judgment 
compares concepts. Judgment is followed by reason- 
ing, which is more complex than judgment; reason- 
ing compares judgments. The mind in attaining 
knowledge passes from the simple to the complex, 
from raw material to thinking, by a series of succes- 
sive and dependent processes. 

It is clear that there is a well-marked order in the 
development of intellect, and that there is a well- 
marked relation of dependence between the several 
steps or stages of development. In no other subject 
is it more important to understand the dependence 
which exists between the successive steps. This ele- 
mentary fact the teacher will emphasize by giving 
many illustrations that show the dependence which 
exists between the several steps of mental develop- 
ment. Step by step he will see that the pupil really 



32 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

knows. He will, therefore, require the pupil to give 
original illustrations to prove that he knows what is 
meant by this step or by that step. The pupil's 
knowledge of a subject cannot be measured by his 
ability to quote text-book facts. Recitation without 
ample illustrations by the pupil counts for little. 

Life, intellectual, moral, and physical, is a gradual 
growth. Nature makes no sudden leaps. Man seldpnl 
realizes more than his ideal. Neither God nor man 
gives for the mere asking, but both encourage, re- 
ward, and applaud purpose, effort, and patience. If 
the teacher will apply these universal truths to his 
work in the school, he will soon see that interest on 
the part of his pupils depends on their understanding 
the several dependent steps of mental operations. 
This general remark on method is equally applicable 
to all subjects taught in any school. The teacher 
should recognize the well-established, mental facts: 
that new truth is appropriated by using the mental 
stock already acquired; and that the ease and readi- 
ness with which new ideas become known and related 
depend on the clearness and the vigor of the old 
ideas. This is apperception. Be not afraid. 

THE BASES OF PSYCHICAL LIFE. 

The development of mind is possible, because miud 
has certain capacities which are the stimuli to self- 



INTRODUCTORY TOPICS 33 

activity. We will briefly notice interest, impulse, and 
instinct. 

Interest. — "Interest is the name given to the 
pleasurable or painful feelings which are evoked by 
an idea, and which gave that idea the power of arous- 
ing and holding; the attention." Without interest it 
is impossible to secure the voluntary attention of 
pupils ; hence it is a most important factor in the ac- 
quisition of knowledge. " Whatever does not inter- 
est the mind, that the mind is indifferent to; and 
whatever it is indifferent to is to that mind as if it 
had no existence." 

Interest is of two kinds, natural and acquired. In- 
terest is strictly egoistic or selfish in its direction and 
tendency, and is a general characteristic of the crav- 
ing desires and appetites. Natural interest is the in- 
terest which the presentation of the object has in 
itself. The attention which we give to loud noises, 
bright colors, unusual styles of dress, arises from nat- 
, ural interest. Acquired interest is the interest which 
the presented object acquires on account of its asso- 
ciations. The attention the biologist displays in dis- 
secting a rabbit is maintained by acquired interest. 
Acquired interest is interest controlled by the will. 

Importance of Interest. — The importance of in- 
terest as a factor in the basis of psychical life is 
found in the fact that it is the means by which the 



34 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

mind is drawn to any subject as well as the means by 
which it is lead to exercise itself on it. That is, inter- 
est is the mother of attention, and there is no intel- 
lectual gain without attention. Teaching implies the 
power to interest pupils, to secure and retain their 
attention. An abiding and profitable interest cannot 
be secured or retained by force of any kind. The 
teacher cannot interest pupils in a subject by threats 
of punishment or by bellowing at them or by offering 
rewards. A permanent interest cannot be aroused by 
resorting to the tricks of the untrained or the unskill- 
ful teacher. 

Impulse. — Impulse may be defined as " Those in- 
nate promptings of activity in which there is no clear 
representation of a pleasure, and consequently no dis- 
tinct desire;" or as "Those activities which arise 
from some feeling of want, and which, guided by in- 
terest in the satisfaction of that want, lead to some 
physical change." Impulse is a sudden or transient 
mental motive or feeling. It is the basis of will, but 
is not will. It must be regulated before it becomes a 
true act of will. An illustration will make the defini- 
tion of impulse clear. Take the impulse for food. 
How does this impulse arise? It arises from the or- 
ganic feeling hunger. Hunger is a feeling of lack 
and a desire for something to satisfy this lack. Im- 
pulse in this case manifests itself in the physical 



INTBODUGTOBT TOPICS 35 

movements required to supply the lack, to satisfy the 
appetite. Appetite is a term used to denote the re- 
curring wants -of the animal system. 

Instinct. — Instinct may be defined as a natural im- 
pulse or propensity, especially in the lower animals, 
that incites them to the actions that are essential to 
their existence and development. Instincts are invol- 
untary and spontaneous. Instinct is an impulse which 
takes place at once ; an impulse that leads to action 
without a knowledge of a reason for the action. The 
impulse for food in the infant and in most animals 
illustrates what is meant by the word instinct. 

Limitations of Psychology. — It is important to 
know what psychology can do for the teacher, and it 
is also important to know what it cannot do. Psychol- 
ogy is a science, and as a science deals with classes ; 
teaching is an art, and as an art deals with individ- 
uals. Psychology can give a teacher knowledge of 
the laws which govern the workings of the mind, but 
it cannot give him the tact and skill required to apply 
the principles of teaching to the individual pupil. 
Psychology cannot fit a man for the schoolroom if the 
man was not born for the schoolroom. "Adaptation 
is nature." 

Prof. William James, in his Talks to Teachers on 
Psychology, says: " I say moreover that you make a 
great, a very great mistake, if you imagine that psy- 



36 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

chology, being the science of the mind's laws, is 
something from which you can deduce definite pro- 
grammes and schemes and methods of instruction for 
immediate schoolroom use. Psychology is a science; 
teaching is an art; and sciences never generate arts 
directly out of themselves. An intermediary, in- 
ventive mind must make the application by using its 
originality. To know psychology, therefore, is abso- 
lutely no guarantee that we shall be good teachers. 
To advance to that result we must have an additional 
endowment altogether, a happy tact and ingenuity to 
tell us what definite things to say and do when the 
pupil is before us." 

Psychology is an account of the various ways in 
which the mind works. Some of those ways consti- 
tute the process of acquiring knowledge. It is im- 
portant, therefore, that the teacher should have clear 
ideas of the fundamental principles of psychology. 
In his work of teaching the teacher must appeal to 
mental processes, for upon them he must build. 
Teaching that does not rest upon these processes is 
arbitrary and barren of satisfactory results, or posi- 
tively harmful. A pupil's psychical processes will 
go on whether he is taught correctly or incorrectly, or 
whether he goes to school or not. But if he is di- 
rected by wrong methods he will stop short of what 
he might have become under proper guidance. 



INTBODUCTOBY TOPICS 37 

It is impossible to reach the true end of education, 
the harmonious evolution of the intellectual and 
moral powers, without a practical knowledge of the 
laws and the processes of intellectual and moral de- 
velopment. This knowledge psychology aims to 
give. Method finds the place in stimulating the in- 
stinctive activities into ever-renewed movement, in 
keeping them directed in the right line, and by pro- 
gressing on that line in the simplest, most economical, 
and most vital way. It rests, therefore, on a knowl- 
edge of the activities of the mind and the laws which 
govern mental operations. 

The teacher must interpret the minds of his pupils 
by the action of his own mind. We learn to under- 
stand how our own minds acquire knowledge by in- 
trospection and by observing the action of the minds 
of those around us. One's mind is something; more 
than his own mind. Only a fool in his pride believes 
that his associates can teach him nothing. Man is 
great, but men are greater. There is naught existing 
from which one may not learn something. Wise is 
he who finds a teacher everywhere and in everything. 
Wise is he who perceives and feels that the one 
great thought God is pressing on the world is 
progress. 

Education. — "Education can only develop and 
unfold; it cannot create anything new." "Educa- 



38 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

tion gives man nothing which he could not have de- 
veloped from within himself." Education may be 
briefly defined as the harmonious development of our 
faculties. It begins in the nursery and continues 
through life. It means something more than infor- 
mation, something more than small intelligence. 
Man needs education, not merely as a means of liveli- 
hood, but as a means of life. "Every person," 
says Gibbon, " has two educations — one which he re- 
ceives from others, and one more important, which 
he gives himself." All that any school or college 
can do for a pupil is to help him lay the foundation 
upon which he can build throughout life. The 
school can lay the foundation only; self -education 
must erect the structure. Education emancipates; it 
frees the soul of sensuous environment and carries it 
into the realm of spiritual truth. A teacher who 
sees only the business value of education has a very 
low idea of the aims and ends of life. 

With the exception of the little word only there is 
probably no other word more frequently misused 
than the word education. It is often used when 
either learning or cramming would more properly ex- 
press the meaning intended. One may be well ac- 
quainted with the contents of books, and yet be a 
person of little education. One may be crammed 
with book knowledge and still be an uneducated boor. 



INTRODUCTORY TOPICS 39 

The most unbearable person I ever knew was a gen- 
tleman filled with dates and quotations. He could 
give hundreds of dates and quotations from great 
authors, but he could not think. Cramming had 
paralyzed his mental faculties. He never enjoyed the 
happiness born of conviction and expression. Educa- 
tion should do two great things in the individual : it 
should train his senses and train him to think. 

Education imparts ideas. Discipline expands and 
regulates the powers. It is clear, therefore, that 
the teacher should have at ready command a knowl- 
edge of the subject under consideration and a knowl- 
edge of the laws of mental development. Lacking in 
either of these essentials he will fail, for his success 
largely depends on these two forms of knowledge. 
Experience alone can give a teacher tact. A superin- 
tendent of schools may help a teacher enlarge a gift ; 
he cannot create the gift; he cannot give presence to 
the passive face, sight to the blind, hearing to the 
deaf, tact to the incompetent. Experiments prove 
that it is possible to promote the development of 
which the pupil is capable. Activities can be quick- 
ened, habits improved, and knowledge matured. In 
this work the teacher must conform to the laws 
that govern mental development. The teacher can 
help the pupil enlarge his endowment ; he cannot give 
him anything ; knowledge is acquired. 



40 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

Teaching, An Art. — A teacher may know the laws 
that govern the growth of mind and the subjects he is 
called on to teach, and yet be a schoolroom failure. 
Teaching is an art, requiring tact as well as talent; 
indeed, in the schoolroom tact is more valuable than 
talent. Tact is both a gift and an acquisition. Tact 
on the part of the teacher leads the pupil to set up 
specific ends and work for their attainment. 



" To teach mankind some truth \ 

So dearly purchased — only then I f ouM 
Such teaching was an art requiring cares 
And qualities peculiar to itself; 
That to possess was one thing — to display 
Another. ' ' 

Tact is usually suggestive. To know how to sug- 
gest is to know how to hold attention. As mental 
fiber is the product of mental effort, the pupil's prog- 
ress depends on what he does himself, not on what 
the teacher does for him. The aid given pupils 
should begin where the pupil's ability to help himself 
fails. A teacher should never do for a pupil what the 
pupil by effort and diligence can do for himself. 
Suggestion is better for the pupil than direct help. 

"Teaching," says Tompkins, "is the process by 
which one mind, from a set purpose, produces the 
life-unfolding process in another." A teacher's se- 
cret lies in his power to develop in the minds of his 



INTBODUCTOBY TOPICS 41 

pupils a condition similar to the one present in his 
own mind. Teaching is a mental process. 

" We teach and teach, 
Until like drumming pedagogues we lose 
The thought that what we teach has higher ends 
Than being taught and learned." 

Since mind is that in man which knows, feels, and 
wills, it follows that it is developed and strengthened 
by what it creates and matures, not by what is 
crammed into it. No one can become a good teacher 
without a sound knowledge of mental operations. 
Conscious knowledge of correct methods is the 
mother of enthusiasm and tact, and enthusiasm and 
tact on the part of the teacher beget interest and en- 
thusiasm on the part of the pupil. Instruction stim- 
ulates or stupefies; which, depends wholly on the 
teacher's knowledge of the subject in hand and his 
method of presenting it. The value of a pupil's 
school opportunity depends on the kind of teacher in 
charge of the school. 

Method. — Compayre says : ' ' Method is the order 
we voluntarily introduce into our thoughts, our acts, 
and our undertakings." From the foregoing defini- 
tion it is clear that every one has his own way of 
doing things. The method of teaching a subject 
depends on the best method of learning that subject. 
No teacher can prescribe for another. The teacher 



42 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

who needs more than suggestion needs more than 
psychology and pedagogy can offer him. No one 
who consciously apes the methods of others can in- 
spire school children. The enthusiasm which is con- 
tagious is not a second-hand product ; it is developed 
within; the product of high ideals, energy, and a 
definite aim. The universal best method of teaching 
a subject has not yet been discovered, and it never 
will be discovered. 

The best system of teaching for every one is the 
system he makes for himself through study, expe- 
rience, and personal reflection. Certainly no one 
should be required to learn by heart any one's book 
of methods, yet such books are far from being value- 
less to the inexperienced teacher if they stimulate 
personal reflection. The want of any method is at 
bottom of many a failure in teaching. It is impossi- 
ble to develop and train the minds of others without 
a definite idea of what is to be done, and how it is to 
be done. With a distinct plan or regular scheme of 
work one can do more, and do it with less effort, than 
without a plan. 

Whatever method is used in presenting a subject or 
in hearing a recitation, the teacher's personality is 
the chief factor in success or failure. Only the 
teacher's knowledge of the subject, his interest in his 
work, his enthusiasm, his love for his pupils, can 



WTBODUCTOBY TOPICS 43 

clothe the dry bones of the best method with real life 
and worth. The teacher must be the life of any 
method, yet talk but little. His manner should 
speak. Pupils are not trained to think or to express 
themselves by talking teachers. Talking teachers 
never lead pupils to acquire studious habits, because 
the method which exacts little or nothing of the pupil 
is worth little or nothing to him. Passive speech and 
indifferent bodily action mean little or nothing to 
school children. To lead pupils to do requires posi- 
tive speech and action on the part of the teacher. 
The emphasis of voice and action that accompanies 
purpose is ever present in the work of the inspiring 
and successful teacher. 

Exact teaching persistently demands the very best 
effort of the pupil in all he says in the classroom; 
exact teaching compels the pupil to realize somewhat 
of himself in every effort to express his thought and 
feelings. Methodical persistence on the part of the 
teacher is the only kind of persistence that will estab- 
lish correct habits of thought and speech on the part 
of the pupil. The method of the teacher should aid 
the pupil to form right conceptions of life and to 
build high ideals. The teacher should lead the pupil 
to see that high ideals are to realities as cause is to 
effect; that character depends on ideals. The method 
of the teacher should lead the pupil to appreciate his 



44 PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS 

opportunities, to value the pleasures of life, and to 
acknowledge his obligations and duties to others. 
The method of the teacher should lead the pupil to 
see that to become he must overcome ; that self -trust 
is the distinguishing characteristic of the men that 
succeed in the schoolroom as well as elsewhere. 

As the mind has only what it creates, develops, 
and uses, it follows that the teacher cannot give the 
pupil anything. What most distinguishes the trained 
from the untrained teacher is the art of keeping com- 
paratively quiet during the recitation, the art of 
drawing out of the pupil by direct, concise questions 
what he knows about his lesson. The art of ques- 
tioning seems to be one of the lost arts in too many 
schools. The pupil should be trained from the start 
to regard the school as a business institution, and the 
recitation hour as the most important hour of the 
school day. The recitation should be an experience 
meeting for both teacher and pupils. The art of 
education is the art of furnishing the best possible 
conditions for self-development. 

Training — Cramming. — Education is largely a 
habit, and sound habits of thought are the result of 
long and careful training. The teacher must first see 
that cramming is not culture before he is in any true 
sense an inspirer or instructor. It is how a mental 
act is performed, not what is performed, that devel- 



INTBODUCTOBY TOPICS 45 

ops and strengthens the mind. If the method of the 
teacher compels the pupil to concentrate his mind on 
his class task, the teacher is helpful to the pupil. If 
the method of the teacher licenses the pupil to wan- 
der and squander his effort, the pupil is not benefited 
by the teacher's instruction. Mental power is the 
effect of concentrated mental effort. It is not the 
mental effort which is required to do a thing that tires 
men; it is the mental waste. 

Effects of Cramming. — Cramming the mind with 
impressions deadens the mental faculties. It is a 
well-established physiological fact that over-feeding 
the stomach weakens its digestive powers and eventu- 
ally produces dyspepsia. Only when the digestion is 
equal to the feeding is the body benefited by eating. 
In like manner, only when the mental food is di- 
gested, assimilated with what is already in the mind, 
is the mind trained and strengthened by new impres- 
sions. Mental depression and dyspepsia as surely 
follow cramming the mind with unclassified, undi- 
gested facts as physical depression and dyspepsia fol- 
low cramming the stomach with more food than it di- 
gests. Digestion, physical and mental, must ever be 
equal to the supply of food, physical or mental, or 
congestion is inevitable. 

The teacher that unceasingly crams his pupils with 
individual facts does not in any true sense train 



46 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

them. Cramming is not training. Training is a 
drawing out process. Training is drawing out of pu- 
pils what they have learned, not what was poured into 
them by the teacher. Teaching means training or it 
means little or nothing. The merely formal, superfi- 
cial, and traditional work of the school does not train 
a pupil to think, feel, or act. Only to the extent that 
the method of the teacher stimulates self -activity in 
the pupil is the teacher helpful. In nearly every 
case of educational failure the fault is not in the 
pupil, but in the teacher, in the method, or in both. 

Cramming tends to make study distasteful. It is 
thus opposed to the self -culture which naturally fol- 
lows rational, mental training. Cramming is a mis- 
take, for it assumes that a memory filled with facts is 
culture. Cramming is a mistake, for it assumes that 
learning is everything, and forgets that knowledge 
must be classified to be helpful. Cramming is a mis- 
take, for it assumes that all pupils are dullards. 
Cramming is chiefly the effect of telling, and tell- 
ing is the result of the teacher's stupidity, not of the 
pupil's. Cramming produces a morbid state of mind 
and a consequent disgust for knowledge in general. 
Cramming text-book definitions, rules, and dates into 
pupils is a mistake, for it weakens the memory. As 
the memory can recall only what is held in the mind 
by the laws of association, it follows that the rote 



INTEODUCTOBY TOPICS 47 

recitation of text-oook bric-a-brac is a silly trespass 
on a pupil's opportunity. It is a well-established 
fact that what has little or no connection with what 
is already in the mind cannot be retained, hence can- 
not be recalled. That is, the rote recitation of one 
day is forgotten by the next day. 

The mere memorizing of forms does not give the 
pupil power to deal with new problems. A model so- 
lution is meaningless to the pupil that does not think. 
When training is substituted for cramming, model so- 
lutions and rules will fill but little space in our text- 
books. In practical life one must know he is right; 
he must be independent of rules and the authority of 
others. Eules are serviceable only to machine teach- 
ers and dull pupils, and to them only for a day. If 
principles are mastered, rules are not needed. Spen- 
cer says : ' ' Eule teaching is now condemned as im- 
parting a merely empirical knowledge — as producing 
an appearance of understanding without the reality. 
Between a mind of rules and a mind of principles 
there exists a difference such as that between a con- 
fused heap of materials and the same materials 
organized into a complete whole with all its parts 
bound together." 

The method of the teacher should aid the pupil to 
think promptly and correctly. In this way only can 
the teacher assist the pupil in preparing himself to 



48 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEAGHEBS 

meet the demands of life. Memory cramming will 
not meet the demands of social, professional or busi- 
ness life. No array of facts, no amount of quota- 
tions, will inspire pupils. Inspiration and action are 
born of inspiration and action, not of seeming and 
dreaming. The method of the teacher should lead 
the pupil to act well his part in social life and to do 
his duty as a citizen of the state. The untrained 
teacher too frequently makes the acquisition of 
knowledge facts the chief end of school training. 

Competency Essential. — Two kinds of knowledge 
are indispensable to the teacher : the first is a thor- 
ough knowledge of the subjects he teaches ; the sec- 
ond is a conscious knowledge of the fundamental laws 
that govern the development of mind. Without 
ample knowledge of the subject, teaching-tact is im- 
possible. An explanation that pupils cannot under- 
stand on account of the teacher's scanty knowledge 
of the subject and the verbose and slovenly language 
used discourages pupils. To teach effectively the 
teacher must know his subject, and must use clear and 
concise language in explanations and illustrations. 
Conscious ignorance of the subject dampens the 
teacher's enthusiasm and weakens the pupil's confi- 
dence in the teacher. Without some knowledge of 
how the mind grows, the teacher must follow tradi- 
tional methods or guess at how to present the subject 



INTBODUGTOBY TOPICS 49 

as well as how to approach the pupil. The teacher 
that is deficient in either of the foregoing essential 
particulars is a mere recitation hearer. He is a dis- 
couraging presence. 

Enthusiasm Essential. — An average pupil needs 
the stimulating influence of an earnest, working 
teacher; he needs the influence of an aggressive, ex- 
acting, sympathetic personality. What an average 
pupil accomplishes in school depends on what is re- 
quired of him and by whom it is required. The per- 
sonality of the teacher is the real power in every 
schoolroom. The manners of a teacher are commu- 
nicable. It is the spiritual life, purpose, and habits 
of the teacher that inspire and determine the spiritual 
life, purpose, and habits of the pupil. A school may 
inspire and develop mental and moral power, or it 
may stupefy and destroy it; which, depends almost 
wholly on the method of the teacher. Not every one 
can teach school. Teaching is a spiritual process ; the 
formal recitation is only the visible machinery through 
which the spiritual is awakened and strengthened. 

Every recitation is an opportunity to train pupils 
for power. Learning is valueless if the learner can- 
not use it. The mere ability to state facts does not 
necessarily indicate culture. Culture is the power to 
think, to reason, to assert, to prove. It is a condi- 
tion developed by the mind's own activity. Method 



50 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

should compel the pupil to think. The liberal use of 
the little word again will keep the pupil alert. Do 
not scold the blunderer, nor use his time in wordy ex- 
planations. The less you talk and scold, the more 
the pupils will think and do. Teaching that does not 
train a pupil to think is destructive teaching ; teach- 
ing that does not train a pupil to believe in himself is 
worthless teaching ; teaching that consists chiefly in 
telling is ignorant teaching. 

The teacher's manner is the real influence in the 
school; his personality is the real teacher. Pupils 
may laugh at a teacher's opinions, but they cannot re- 
sist his personal power. If he is not in earnest the 
pupils will not be zealous; if he is not enthusiastic 
he cannot secure and retain the attention of his 
pupils ; he must speak and act in such a manner that 
the pupils cannot disregard his teaching. Teaching 
school requires the whole of the largest men and 
women. Satisfactory results can be secured only in 
the degree that the teacher throws his whole lif e into 
his work. It is through the contagion of his own 
personal enthusiasm that interest is awakened on the 
part of the pupils. "A working teacher will always 
have working pupils ; and this the more if they are 
not overwhelmed with text-books rendered wholly un- 
manageable for them by sheer excess of details." 

The personality of the teacher is the persuasive ele- 



INTBODUCTOBY TOPICS 51 

ment to which all else is subservient and secondary. 
Personal influence is greater than authority ; it is the 
teacher's character, not his learning, that inspires and 
governs. Some men are leaders, not because of what 
they know, but because of what they are. History 
clearly shows that the essential factor in human de- 
velopment is the leadership of great men. The power 
that moves others is personal, not abstract. Every- 
where men have always been loyal to leaders rather 
than to systems and methods. The greatest power in 
the world is a living personality. We all know the 
magnetic influence of a strong personality. " A man 
teaching is worth more to a class of pupils than all 
theories, methods, and devices." Purpose as seen in 
a teacher's face and bodily habits is communicable. 
The presence of a teacher is the controlling influence 
in the government of the school. The true character 
of a teacher is constantly on exhibition in the school- 
room. Sham will not pass long for reality. Children 
detect the counterfeit very soon. 

The essence of a good school is in the teacher. It 
is not in the course of study, nor in the fine school- 
house, nor in the large library ; it is in the teacher, 
in his method, in his personal adaptation to the work 
of instruction, in his enthusiasm, in his ideals, in his 
personal worth. A school is the center of power only 
when it is in charge of a competent teacher. The 



52 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

school attracts and educates only when it is in charge 
of an educated, courageous teacher. A teacher can 
do his duty to his pupils only when he feels that he 
was chosen, not on account of his politics, his re- 
ligion, or his relationship to the school board, but on 
account of his qualifications. 

Originality Essential. — There is no one best 
method of presenting any subject. One learns to 
teach by teaching, by seeing others teach, by reading 
books on teaching and school management, and by 
thinking into practice sound methods. The most 
profound pedagogical maxims have no meaning to a 
teacher that does not think. "Much talking wea- 
ries," has no meaning to the teacher that has real- 
ized his ideal, yet it contains more food for teachers 
than many books on pedagogy. " Learning without 
thought is labor lost," though thousands of years old, 
contains more food for young teachers than is found 
in some books on method. "Telling is not teach- 
ing," is another foundation stone. Many teachers 
never learn what it means. "Teaching a pupil is 
training him to help himself," contains the essence 
of the teaching process, yet many teachers never get 
a glimpse of its meaning. 

The ability to interest pupils depends almost 
wholly on the teacher's presence, knowledge of the 
subject, and enthusiasm. As a desire for knowledge 



INTBODUCTOBY TOPICS 53 

is more valuable than knowledge itself, the method of 
the teacher should compel the pupil to concentrate 
his attention on one thing till he knows it, and until 
he can give expression in clear and concise language 
to his knowledge of it. Expression is the test of the 
pupil's knowledge as well as the key to his mental 
habits. Method should compel the pupil to realize 
his best effort in all he does in the schoolroom. 

Any reference to method in education suggests 
the relation which exists between psychology and 
teaching. Teaching is an art based upon the laws 
that govern mental development. Psychology fur- 
nishes many rules for teaching, but a profound psy- 
chologist may be a poor teacher. One may theo- 
retically know a science, yet not know how to apply 
its principles in practical life. No one can be a good 
physician who does not have an accurate knowledge 
of the various operations of the body. Similarly no 
one can become an intelligent and progressive teacher 
who in addition to a knowledge of the subjects he 
teaches has not some knowledge of the operations of 
the mind. "What physiology is to the doctor psy- 
chology is to the teacher." 

An art is learned by practicing it. One cannot be- 
come a successful cricketer by merely reading books 
on the subject. No one can become an inspiring 
teacher by merely reading books on psychology and 



54 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

method. A teacher who knows something of the 
science of psychology, the science upon which the art 
of teaching is based, will probably avoid many errors 
that he would commit if he were ignorant of the sci- 
ence. He will also teach with more pleasure to him- 
self and profit to his pupils than if he blindly follows 
the suggestions found in books on method or the 

Do 

example of others. A knowledge of how the mind 
grows places the work of the teacher upon a scien- 
tific basis. The teacher who has some knowledge of 
psychology is more likely to be systematic in his 
method than one who blindly applies the rule-of- 
thumb maxims, the reasons for which he does not un- 
derstand. The well-qualified teacher is systematic. 

Ideals. — Ideals are personal creations and are re- 
lated to realities as cause is to effect. The real 
school depends on the ideal school; the teacher's 
ideals depend on culture, comparison, and conviction. 
With the teacher who is no larger at the close of the 
school term than he was at the beginning of the 
term, teaching is a cramming process; the pupil's 
mind is a thing to be filled with text-book facts. 
With the real teacher, the teacher that has an ideal 
toward which he is growing, teaching is a developing, 
unfolding, and life-giving process. The mere routine 
peddler of text-book facts regards information as the 
end of teaching; the true teacher regards text-book 



INTBODUCTOBT TOPICS 55 

facts as a means to an end ; the former dwarfs and 
deadens, the latter enlarges and quickens. 

A teacher's value is measured by the mental, 
moral, and physical habits which his pupils acquire 
while under his care. "By their fruits ye shall 
know them." If a pupil does not acquire correct 
habits of study and a love for learning, what does he 
gain by his schooling that will serve him in after life ? 
Ideals depend on the will ; realities depend on ideals ; 
hence it is the teacher's duty to train and strengthen 
the will of his pupils and to cultivate in them a love 
for what is true, beautiful, and good. This impor- 
tant duty he can discharge without delivering daily 
set lectures on moral conduct. His daily life should 
be an inspiring example of high ideals and right con- 
duct. The routine of school exercises is too mechan- 
ical, too soulless to inspire high ideals, develop pur- 
pose or character. 

The teacher is the ideal. As is the teacher, so will 
the school become in time. When the teacher is a 
drone, the school will soon partake of his spirit. 
When he is a man, capable, progressive, and cour- 
ageous, alive to his responsibilities, the deadest of 
dead pupils will ere long awake to a new life and 
become living souls. Pupils need the leadership of 
intelligent conviction and moral courage. Pupils 
need the guidance of teachers who are conscious of 



56 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

their defects, and who are struggling for the ideal. 
Consciousness of imperfection is the only hope of 
improvement. He is unworthy who makes no effort 
to improve. He is unworthy whose ideal has not be- 
come an object of desire. Only an idealist can build 
grandly. Ideals are more valuable than learning; 
purpose more valuable than knowledge. 

Children cannot be properly taught by one who 
does not believe in God and humanity. There is no 
place in the schoolroom for the pessimistic croaker. 
The development of high ideals, moral purpose, and 
character is not encouraged by the presence and the 
teachings of a pessimist. School teachers should 
live ideal lives. One good example is worth a thou- 
sand pessimistic scoldings. Children cannot be prop- 
erly taught by one who cannot think, nor by one who 
is afraid to express his convictions. Children cannot 
be properly taught by one who does not like to teach. 
Children cannot be properly taught by one who be- 
lieves that he is worth more to the district than the 
district pays him. 

Teachers are builders, and the buildings they build 
will outlast the pyramids; teachers are preachers, and 
the echo of their words will be sounding on when 
time shall be no more. The true teacher is more 
than a theorist dealing with imaginary beings ; he is 
confronted with concrete, living examples and varying 



INTRODUCTORY TOPICS 57 

conditions ; his duty is not merely to theorize on the 
laws of right conduct, but to exemplify his teachings 
in his daily life. The teacher is not called on to 
teach religion; he is called on to be religious. A 
teacher must believe in God, humanity, and himself. 
Believing in these three great realities, he will be ever 
willing to labor and to wait, and with Holmes say : 

" Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, 
As the swift seasons roll ! 
Leave thy low vaulted past! 
Let each new temple, nobler than the last, 
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, 
Till thou at length art free, 
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea! " 

The Outlook. — The present is indeed a state of 
encouraging unrest. Every decade makes radical 
changes in the subjects taught in the common schools 
and in the manner of teaching them. The methods 
of instruction are becoming more and more obser- 
vational and objective year by year. Parents are be- 
ginning to believe that trained teachers are required 
to train children. They are beginning to see that the 
great lessons of life are learned, not from text-books, 
but from parents and teachers. The fact that the 
schools of to-day are better than the schools of ten 
years ago encourages the belief that they will still 
continue to improve and that trained teachers will 
soon be found in every schoolroom. 



58 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

Training schools for teachers and compulsory school 
laws indicate a deep-seated conviction that education 
is a common necessity. The conquests of the pres- 
ent outrank those of the past; they have a deeper 
meaning. The intellectual and moral history of the 
past century is inspiring. The divine purpose' is seen 
in all things. In the presence of what man has done 
who can prophesy his future? This century is little 
less than an age of miracles, yet I believe still greater 
achievements await us. The sphere of the teacher is 
distinctly altruistic. What a solemn and tender task 
is imposed on the teacher into whose hands is com- 
mitted by loving parents the plastic clay of human 
character, to be molded into statuary more imperish- 
able than marble. 

TEST QUESTIONS ON THE CHAPTER. 

To Teacher and Student. — The ''Questions" are not 
exhaustive. After a subject has been thoroughly discussed 
in the class, each pupil should be required to exhibit his 
knowledge of it in the form of written recitation, not written 
examination. He should be required to use his own language 
in defining terms and in illustrating principles. The ability 
to quote authors is one thing; the ability to express the 
thought in one's own language is another thing. 

1. In what important particular do the facts of psychology 
differ from other facts? 

2. Of what use is the study of psychology to the teacher? 

3. Why is psychology called the subjective science? 



INTBODUCTOBY TOPICS 59 

4. Why are all the other sciences called objective sciences? 

5. Define mind and name its distinguishing characteristic. 

6. Name and define the three powers of the mind. 

7. What is meant by the nervous system? 

8. Define nerve-fibers and give their functions. 

9. Define nerve -cells and give their functions. 

10. What is included in the central nervous system? 

11. Locate and describe the brain. 

12. Locate and describe the cerebrum and give its functions. 

13. Locate and describe the cerebellum and give its prin- 
cipal functions. 

14. Locate and describe the spinal cord and give its prin- 
cipal functions. 

15. Define a sense and a sense-organ. 

16. What is meant by the special senses? Name them. 

17. What is knowledge? How many kinds of knowledge 
are there? Illustrate. 

18. What is presentative knowledge? Illustrate. 

19. What is representative knowledge? Illustrate. 

20. What is representation? What may be represented? 

21. What is meant by consciousness? Illustrate. 

22. Define the phrase, " Field of Consciousness." 

23. Define the phrase, " Focus of Consciousness." 

24. Define the phrase, " Margin of Consciousness." 

25. What does the phrase, ''Field of Consciousness" us- 
ually include beside the object in the focus? 

26. What is meant by the term subject as used in psychology? 

27. Define faculty as it is used in mental science. 

28. What is mental growth, and where does the mind get 
its material? 

29. What is meant by mental development? 

30. What two kinds of knowledge should a teacher possess? 



60 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

31. Define the word method, and explain what it means in 
school work. 

32. Explain why a teacher should be enthusiastically in 
earnest in the schoolroom. 

33. State clearly and concisely what you understand by 
mental -training; by memory- cramming. 

34. Why does cramming deaden the faculties? 

35. Define mental development, and distinguish between a 
trained and a crammed mind. 

36. Why should the method of the teacher be in important 
sense chiefly original? 

37. Why is competency essential? State why the incom- 
petent teacher cannot arouse interest in his classes. 

38. Explain fully what is meant by interest. 

39. Why do we fail to remember what does not interest us? 

40. Show that interest must accompany acquisition. 

41. What is meant by, "As the twig is bent, so is the tree"? 

42. Why is self-trust important? 

43. Explain, "A sound mind in a sound body." 

44. Why should the teacher be what he would have his 
pupils become? 

45. Why cannot the ideal be realized? 



CHAPTER n 
ATTENTION 

The dependence of intellectual operations on atten- 
tion gives it the first place in the discussion of how 
the mind grows. Attention is a condition of all intel- 
lectual operations. We see things only when we no- 
tice them. We notice things only when we concen- 
trate consciousness on them, or, in other words, when 
we attend to them. One may see a person, yet not 
see him; one may hear a sentence without under- 
standing it ; one may be touched without f eeling the 
touch. What one sees, or hears, or feels, or tastes, 
or smells depends on the attention he gives to the 
stimulating cause. In an educational sense inatten- 
tion is absence. " Clear thoughts, distinct feelings, 
deliberate volitions are impossible without concentrated 
attention." The great importance of this subject 
privileges me to quote a beautiful example from 
Psychology in the Schoolroom: 

' ' Two boys are talking in an undertone in the 
class. The teacher is dimly conscious of a ' noise ' in 
the room; he thinks there is a noise, but is not cer- 
tain. He begins to listen, to concentrate his mind, as 

61 



62 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

it were, upon the supposed sound. He identifies it 
as a sound of conversation, and localizes the sound as 
coming from the two boys who are talking. The 
boys are talking no louder at the conclusion than at 
the beginning of the incident, but the teacher has by 
his act of attention given greater distinctness and 
vividness to his consciousness." 

As I walk along the road to my country school I 
notice a number of sheep grazing on a hillside, and 
see a herd of horses in the bottom land. My con- 
sciousness is diffused. I can, however, concentrate it 
on either the sheep or the horses, or I can pick out 
one particular sheep or one particular horse and at- 
tend only to it. Consciousness is always more inter- 
ested in one part of its object than in other parts, and 
welcomes or rejects all the while ; it chooses the ob- 
ject on which it will focus its powers. This is its 
most important characteristic. Voluntary attention 
selects. It involves the withdrawing of mental power 
from certain objects to fix it on another object. 
(The teacher will give an example illustrating this 
important every-day fact.) 

We are now ready to study some formal definitions 
of attention: 1. "Attention is the active self-direc- 
tion of the mind to any object which presents itself 
to it at the moment." 2. " Attention is conscious- 
ness concentrated on an object; or a concentration of 



ATTENTION 63 

cognitive consciousness." 3. Fitch says: "By at- 
tention I mean fixity of thought, the concentration of 
the whole mind upon the subject at a time ; the effort 
of will by which we are enabled to follow what we 
hear or read, without wandering, without weariness, 
and without losing any particle of the meaning in- 
tended to be conveyed." Professor Dewey says: 
' ' In attention we focus the mind, concentrate it in a 
point." In a word, attention is the lens of the mind. 
Giving attention means concentrating consciousness 
on an object. (The class will give two examples 
illustrating this fact. ) 

The importance of attention in mental operations 
privileges me to quote a paragraph from Prof. James' 
Talk To Teachers : ' ' Whoever treats of interest 
treats of attention, for to say that an object is inter- 
esting is only another way of saying that it excites 
attention. . . . Besides the attention which an 
object already interesting or just becoming interest- 
ing claims — that is, besides passive attention — 
there is a more deliberate attention — voluntary at- 
tention or attention with effort, which we can give to 
objects less interesting or uninteresting in them- 
selves. . . . The sustained attention of the 
genius, sticking to his object for hours together, is 
for the most part of the passive sort." A little 
thinking will convince any one that prolonged atten- 



64 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

tion is due to interest and is passive rather than 
active. That is, it is not forced attention. 

If the subject is not interesting the minds of the 
pupils will wander, and will have to be brought back 
to the subject by threats or by the superior will- 
power of the teacher. The teacher that cannot get 
the passive attention of his pupils is a failure, for 
voluntary attention is spasmodic. "It comes in 
beats." "The prescription is, the subject must be 
made to show new aspects of itself ; to prompt new 
questions; in a word, to change." No one can long 
hold the attention of others, young or old, who is not 
master of his subject, and who cannot make the sub- 
ject interesting. From an uninteresting subject the 
attention of pupils will wander. 

Experience asserts that long-continued voluntary 
or consciously willed attention is impossible. It is a 
well-established fact that attention directed and held 
by the will is a momentary affair. Experience also 
asserts that the kind of attention needed in the 
schoolroom is born of interest; that it cannot be 
forced or compelled by any of the devices of the un- 
trained or passive teacher. It is quite obvious that 
prolonged or passive attention can be maintained only 
in one way, by making the subject interesting. 
When pupils are interested in the work of the school 
the school governs itself. The greater the interest 



ATTENTION 65 

on the part of the pupils, the less the teacher needs 
the attire or the frowns of a policeman, and the more 
smoothly, pleasantly, and profitably will the work of 
the school become. 

As there are two kinds of consciousness, diffused 
and concentrated, there are two kinds of attention, 
diffused and concentrated. The distinction between 
the two kinds of attention refers to the quality of the 
effort involved in the act of attention. Some acts of 
attention are only lightly marked by conscious effort ; 
other acts are very strongly marked. The attention 
which is only lightly accompanied by effort is passive 
attention; that which is strongly accompanied and 
controlled by effort is voluntary attention. In passive 
attention the will is not consciously present; in active 
or voluntary attention the will is always present and 
often in a very aggressive and burdensome form. 
(The teacher will give illustrations showing the two 
kinds of consciousness, and the consequent two kinds 
of attention. The class will give an example of con- 
centrated attention.) 

Kinds of Attention. — There are two kinds of at- 
tention — voluntary and non- voluntary, or involun- 
tary, as the latter is sometimes called. 

Voluntary Attention. — The attention given to an 
object of our selection and accompanied by a sense of 
effort is voluntary attention. "Voluntary attention 



66 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

is that condition of the mind in which it puts forth 
effort under the impulse of desire." When we 
choose to attend to this thing rather than to any 
other thing we exercise voluntary attention. Twice 
while writing this paragraph I have been disturbed 
by callers, but twice I have brought my mind back 
from its wanderings and deliberately fixed it on this 
subject. This act is an illustration of what is meant 
by voluntary attention. Voluntary attention deter- 
mines the capacity of the mind to perceive, to know, 
to feel, thus enabling the teacher to exact more or 
less of the pupil. (Teacher will illustrate.) 

Non-Voluntary Attention. — Non-voluntary atten- 
tion is the kind of attention given an object on 
account of the mere force of the stimulus of the ob- 
ject itself. Sometimes we are forced or compelled to 
attend. Who can help attending to the pain of the 
sting of a bee, or to a terrible peal of thunder, or a 
blinding flash of lightning? We involuntarily attend 
to anything which excites our interest or curiosity. 
An unusual sight or noise always compels attention. 
Non-voluntary attention is sometimes called reflex at- 
tention. "That is, we are frequently determined to 
acts of attention independently of our free and delib- 
erate volition." (The teacher will illustrate this 
fact. The class will give an illustration of voluntary 
attention, also one of non-voluntary attention.) 



ATTENTION 67 

VOLUNTARY AND NON-VOLUNTARY ATTENTION 
COMPARED. 

We will now examine some of the ways in which 
voluntary and non-voluntary attention differ. In 
voluntary attention the stimulus is internal. In non- 
voluntary attention the stimulus is external. In vol- 
untary attention the will can exclude certain stimuli 
and select other stimuli. In non-voluntary attention 
the stimulus acts independently of the will. In vol- 
untary attention the mind is master of the stimuli. 
In non-voluntary attention the stimuli are master of 
the mind. Voluntary attention is aroused and main- 
tained by interest. Non-voluntary attention does not 
depend on interest. It is forced attention, attention 
forced or compelled by external and unexpected 
causes. (Class will give examples.) 

Example. — I see a beautiful landscape and stop to 
look at it. While I am gazing on the scene a man 
unseen by me, hunting in an adjoining field, fires a 
couple of shots ; involuntarily my attention is drawn 
from the scene, and turns to the hunter, forced or 
demanded by the suddenness, the unexpectedness, or 
the nearness of the reports. (Both teacher and class 
will give other examples of non-voluntary attention.) 

Law of Attention. — "The extension of conscious- 
ness at any instant is in an inverse ratio to its inten- 
sion." That is to say, the more intently one con- 



68 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

siders any one of several objects simultaneously in 
consciousness, the less clear will be the other objects ; 
and, on the other hand, the greater the number of 
objects to which consciousness is simultaneously ex- 
tended, the weaker is the intensity with which it con- 
siders any one. This statement is a self-evident truth 
and one of the most important schoolroom truths dis- 
covered by the study of mental operations. It clearly 
suggests two things to the teacher : Clear the pupil's 
mind of ideas floating around in the margin of con- 
sciousness; then concentrate his attention on one 
thing that a clear and lasting impression of that idea 
may be made. Locke says: "It should be the skill 
and art of the teacher to clear the heads of his child- 
ren of all other thoughts while they are learning any- 
thing, the better to make room for what he would in- 
still into them, that it may be received with atten- 
tion and application, without which it leaves no im- 
pression." (See Locke on the Understanding.) 

Introspection proves that one may be conscious of 
many things at once. Knowing, feeling, and willing 
are conscious activities that are constantly in exercise. 
Knowing is never exclusively occupied with a single 
object. Many colors, many sounds are simultaneously 
perceived. Memory is never alone ; it is of many as- 
sociated things, and the same is true of thoughts. I 
perceive, remember, and think all in the same instant. 



ATTENTION 69 

It must be clear that when consciousness is concen- 
trated on one thing to the disregard of marginal in- 
truders, the intensity of consciousness relative to it 
lessens the intensity of consciousness given to other 
objects. That is, the object drawn into the focus of 
consciousness gains vividness at the expense of the 
objects in the margin. There is no loss in nature 
without a corresponding gain. This is the law of 
compensation. (Teacher will illustrate the law.) 

It is well known that the amount of attention fixed 
on any one thing constantly varies. It is also a well- 
known fact that it is not possible to hold the atten- 
tion, at a perfectly steady strain, longer than a minute 
or perhaps half a minute. All attention is incon- 
stant; it rises and falls. The same amount of atten- 
tion is not required in all mental states, some requir- 
ing more, others less. In a general way, interested 
attention is the kind of attention required in the class- 
room, because interested attention is the condition of 
a retentive memory. Generally the mind's retention 
is directly proportional to interested attention. The 
teacher who cannot secure and retain the attention of 
a class is an unqualified schoolroom failure. 

Importance of Attention. — Attention is a general 
condition of mental operations; it determines the 
character of every field of consciousness, for all our 
conscious states are characterized by some degree and 



70 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

kind of attention. Knowing, feeling, and willing in- 
volve attention. All thinking is clearly an active 
state of mind, involving a voluntary fixing of the at- 
tention. To give attention is to intensify conscious- 
ness by concentrating or narrowing it to some definite 
area or object. Dewey says: "In a broad sense 
every act of knowledge may be regarded as due to at- 
tention, for every consciousness involves the activity 
of the mind. Nothing can be in consciousness that 
consciousness does not put there. As there is no 
consciousness without attention, consciousness and at- 
tention are identical. Attention determines what 
ideas shall occupy the focus of consciousness ; hence it 
is the selective activity, the associating, and the re- 
lating activity of mind. Mind can associate and re- 
late only what is selected for its use by attention. 
Attention is the instrument of education." 

The chief difference between the trained and the 
untrained mind is the greater capacity of the former 
for close, continuous, concentrated attention. The 
chief difference between the successful and the unsuc- 
cessful teacher is the power of the former to secure 
and retain the attention of his pupils. The chief dif- 
ference between the studious and interested pupil, 
and the idle and indifferent pupil is that the former 
gives an attentive ear to the voice of instruction, 
while the latter is inattentive. The chief difference 



ATTENTION 71 

between the successful and the unsuccessful business 
man is that the former secures and uses the attention 
of the public. Almost everything will sell at a profit 
if the attention of the public is called to it in the 
right way. The enormous sale of patent medicines is 
sufficient to illustrate this fact. 

Attention — Consciousness. — ' ' Consciousness ad- 
mits of many degrees of distinctness." One may be 
vaguely conscious of a bodily pain or of some object 
brought before the mind through the senses. The 
mind is often in a state of diffuse consciousness. We 
perceive clearly only when we intensify consciousness 
by concentrating it on one object. Consciousness in- 
creases in vividness as the field of consciousness is 
diminished in area, and the number of objects in the 
field is reduced in number. This simple fact should 
be experimentally known by every teacher and con- 
sciously recognized in all that he does in the school- 
room. Van Norden says : "The searchlight of con- 
sciousness cannot play upon many groups of phe- 
nomena at once. If any but confused thinking is to 
be done, attention must be directed to one group- 
ing and abstraction for the time from all others 
enforced . " ( Teacher will illustrate . ) 

Consciousness — Cognition. — Notwithstanding the 
fact that every definition of consciousness seems to 
move in a circle, lexicographers and a few psycholo- 



72 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

gists have attempted to define it. Lexicographers 
define consciousness as follows: " The state of being 
conscious; sensation; knowledge." Steward, a psy- 
chologist, says : ' ' Consciousness is the immediate 
knowledge which the mind has of its sensations and 
thoughts, and in general of all its operations." 
While in a definite sense it cannot be defined, psy- 
chology can study its forms, conditions, and assume 
its existence in man. " The reality of consciousness 
has never been denied." Self -consciousness is defin- 
able, and implies the presence in consciousness of a 
self -known subject or being that knows itself as being 
conscious. See Introductory Topics, Chapter I. 

Cognition. — Lexicographers define cognition as 
follows : ' ' Cognition is knowing ; consciousness of an 
object." Cognition is a condition of all the other 
mental activities. An illustration will make this fact 
clear. "One cannot feel unless there be some 
known object to determine in him the kind and the 
degree of feeling ; one cannot desire unless there be 
some known object toward which his longing tends ; 
one cannot choose unless there be alternative objects 
of cognition desired; one cannot make a voluntary 
effort unless he forms prospectively an image of the 
action . " ( Teacher will illustrate . ) 

Attention — Sensation. — Sensations are nothing to 
the mind until they are selected for its use by atten- 



ATTENTION 73 

tion. Streams of sensations are constantly strug- 
gling for a chance to survive in consciousness, but 
only those sensations which succeed in attracting at- 
tion survive and are used in forming percepts. At- 
tention is the doorkeeper that sits in judgment at the 
very beginning of mental life, and selects the mate- 
rial for the use of the mind in every stage of its de- 
velopment. We can materially alter the intensity of 
a sensation by turning the attention towards or away 
from it. Attention not only selects the raw material 
of knowledge, it also selects the cloth for our gar- 
ments and our partners for life. Sense-impressions 
must be entertained; they must be stamped on the 
mind with the force born of vigorous attention or 
they will soon fade out. There must be depth to the 
impressions. The focusing of the attention is the 
thing ; the cause of the focusing matters not. 

Van Norden says : < ' The freshness and vividness 
of sensations are intensified by attention. An absent- 
minded person, though a lover of music, may lose the 
pleasing effect of the most beautiful symphony or 
aria through sudden distraction of attention to some 
wonted train of thought. Either painful or pleasura- 
ble sensations may be dulled or quite ignored by per- 
sistent distraction. Consciousness turns the yellow 
spot of its mental eye upon the sensation and it is 
seen more clearly." 



74 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

Attention — Perception. — What we perceive de- 
pends on what we really see, hear, taste, touch, or 
smell. Since attention is the mental energy devoted 
to objects in the field of consciousness, it follows log- 
ically that the character of the percepts depends on 
the quality or intensity of the attention given to the 
object in consciousness. It also follows that atten- 
tion, like any other finite energy, is most intense and 
complete when focused on a single object. From 
these simple facts it is plain that it is the teacher's 
duty to clear the minds of his pupils of all floating 
and irrelevant ideas and concentrate them on the sub- 
ject under discussion. Ideas grow in distinctness 
only when we entertain them with voluntary atten- 
tion. If the pupil would acquire clear ideas he must 
give vigorous attention — the attention born of inter- 
est and purpose. The pupil's attention must be fo- 
cused on one thing. 

The vigor of perception depends on concentration 
of attention. We may easily see and not perceive, or 
perceiving not perceive clearly. That the process 
may be keen and accurate, the mind must direct and 
supervise. You smell odors of flowers, you stop, 
sniff the air, and perceive that it is mignonette. Or 
you hear a bell, start up, and on second stroke, 
listening, perceive that it is the fire alarm. A 
steamer passes on the river; you shade your eyes, 



ATTENTION 75 

look very intently, and easily perceive the name on 
the pilot-house. (Class will give an illustration.) 

Ladd says: "The degree of attention we give, 
whether forced or voluntary, has much to do with 
our noticing distinctions, and, indeed, with the very 
existence of our sensations and ideas in their varied 
forms. It also determines largely how we shall in- 
terpret our sensations." Repeated acts of attention 
clear up any object. Thus, if a disk, having on it 
differently colored spots or lines or different letters, 
be displayed a brief time, the utmost attention will 
on the first trial enable us to discern perhaps only 
some three or four of these spots. But soon by re- 
peated acts of attention a larger number of the spots 
is clearly seen after the disk has been displayed for 
the same length of time. 

Attention — Apperception. — Attention concen- 
trates the mind and brings percepts into relation with 
our previous states and assimilates them. It arouses 
and quickens the ideas already in the mind and dis- 
covers similarity between the new and the old and 
" takes in " the new. Perception proper is the result 
of combining sensations into wholes. To do this re- 
quires attention, for only those sensations to which 
we give conscious attention are combined. To per- 
ceive an idea is to apprehend it through the senses. 
To apperceive an idea is to add it to old ideas or ob- 



76 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

jects already in the mind by using the old ideas as in- 
terpreters of the new ones. The word apperception 
means nothing more than taking into the mind. If 
this statement is not true, why does a child call every 
new thing he sees by the name of something that re- 
sembles the new thing and with which he is already 
familiar? Why does a child call snow sugar the first 
time he sees snow ? Why does he call the first orange 
he sees a ball? Read the little book, A Pot of Green 
Feathers, by Mr. T. G. Kooper. 

Attention — Discrimination. — To discriminate, to 
notice, and mark off distinctions involves voluntary 
attention. In choosing to attend to one stream of 
sensations in preference to another, or to this idea in 
preference to that one, we discriminate. All know- 
ing means discriminating one object or idea from an- 
other. No impression is clear or definite until it is 
picked out and discriminated from other impressions. 
An impression cannot be assimilated until selected by 
attention for a definite purpose. Directing attention 
to an impression separates it from other impressions 
and gives distinctness to it. Discrimination is in- 
volved in thinking. In fact thinking is little more 
than discrimination and assimilation. In thinking we 
first discriminate between sensations, ideas, or objects, 
then assimilate or join the new acquisition to the ma- 
terial already acquired. Connecting one judgment 



ATTENTION 77 

with another implies the ability to detect similarity. 
To detect similarity between objects, as in concep- 
tion, involves discrimination. The stupid mind is 
one that cannot discriminate, one that supposes simi- 
larity to exist where it does not. Reasoning is ac- 
curate only to the extent that we discriminate cor- 
rectly and assimilate. 

Attention — Retention. — The retaining power of 
the mind usually depends on the depth of the impres- 
sion. The depth of an impression is generally deter- 
mined by the vigor of the voluntary attention given 
the perception. If our minds are preoccupied, an 
unusual noise, sight, or odor may fail to make an im- 
pression. When a boy is interested, as in a game of 
ball, the impression becomes well stamped on his 
mind ; that is, it acquires depth, and retention follows 
naturally. Vigor of attention insures a clear discrim- 
ination of the object in the focus of consciousness. 
A vigorous and complete mental act trains and devel- 
ops the faculty that puts it forth ; a desultory and in- 
complete mental act weakens and retards its growth. 
The value of every mental act depends on the charac- 
ter of the attention given the act. 

Sully says : ' ' The immediate effect of an act of at- 
tention serves to give greater force, vividness, and 
distinctness to its object. Thus, an impression of 
sound, as the tolling of a bell, becomes more forcible, 



78 PSYCHOLOGY FOE TEACHERS 

and has its character made more definite, when we 
direct our attention to it. A thought, a recollection, 
is rendered distinct by attending to it. The intensifi- 
cation of consciousness in one particular direction pro- 
duces an increase of illumination, and so subserves 
the clear perception and understanding of things." 

Attention — Recollection. — The reproduction of 
presentations is a passive operation. It is independ- 
ent of the will and controlled by the laws of associa- 
tion of ideas. When the brain conditions of reten- 
tion are good the flow of related images goes on 
automatically. One may will to remember, but he 
cannot recall an image by willing to do so. The will 
cannot secure the revival of an impression except by 
the aid of the laws of association. Mind, like mat- 
ter, is controlled by law. All that anyone can do to 
acquire an attentive memory is to put himself in the 
proper mental attitude during the perceptive process. 
This active side of memory is called recollection. 
Kecollecting is remembering by an effort of the will. 
Vigor of attention gives depth and distinctness to 
a perception ; hence persistence. Experience proves 
that we recollect only those experiences and events 
which interested us and to which we gave attention. 

Fitch says: "For you know, however hard it may 
be to gain attention, we must get it if we are to do 
any good at all in school. It is of no use there to 



ATTENTION 79 

tell children things which go no deeper than the sur- 
face of their minds, and which will be swept away to 
make room for the first trifling matter which claims 
admission there. If children are really to be the bet- 
ter for what we teach them, if the truths which we 
love so well are really to go deep into their con- 
sciences, and become the guiding principles of their 
lives, it is no half-hearted, languid attention which 
will serve our purpose." 

Attention — Association. — Two impressions may 
become closely associated with each other by a spe- 
cial act of conjoint, voluntary attention. A child 
sees an animal and hears its name at the same time. 
By attending closely to the two things together, by 
an act of conjoint attention, his mind makes in a 
sense one object of them. The mention of one sug- 
gests the other. Children thus associate a stranger 
and his name. A place recalls some pleasurable or 
painful event that happened there because of the vol- 
untary, conjoint attention the place and the incident 
received at the time. Voluntary attention on a num- 
ber of objects or events in their connection with one 
another tends to associate the series of objects or 
events and to recall them as a series. The associative 
force depends on voluntary attention, interest, and 
purpose. The grouping, combining, assimilating, and 
associating mental operations depend on attention 



80 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

Attention — Interest. — Without attention interest 
is impossible. Interest is the product of desire and 
attention. The teacher that cannot secure the pu- 
pil's attention cannot interest him. This fact the 
teacher should fully recognize, and govern himself ac- 
cordingly. As we must attend in order to know any 
object in the field of consciousness, it follows that 
one cannot become interested without giving atten- 
tion. Knowing depends on attention. Attention fol- 
lows the line of interest. It is questionable whether 
one can attend for any considerable length of time to 
that which possesses for him no interest. The 
teacher must interest his pupils, and this he can do 
only by securing their attention. The way to secure 
and retain the attention of pupils is to supply the 
conditions that invite attention. No one can tell an- 
other just how to interest a pupil. Age and experi- 
ence can only suggest; principles and laws must be 
modified and applied. Personal thinking is the only 
solvent. Cheap devices will not secure a pupil's at- 
tention nor win his respect. Keeping an idle pupil 
in at recess or after school never made him more stu- 
dious, more respectful, or better. 

Attention — Feeling. — Under feeling psychologists 
include all pleasurable and painful conditions of 
mind. Experience shows that our feelings depend 
for their intensity and duration very largely on atten- 



ATTENTION 81 

tion. Feeling is usually proportional to attention. 
Feeling increases or decreases as we intensify or 
modify attention. That is, feeling rises or falls with 
the degree of attention given to the object or the 
thought. Attention intensifies every mental state, 
especially feeling. Conversely feeling intensifies or 
focuses attention. An illustration or two will suffice 
to show the effect of attention on feeling. Dr. Car- 
penter gives the following example of the effect of 
attention on the feelings : ' ' Before the introduction 
of chloroform patients sometimes went through se- 
vere operations without giving any sign of pain, and 
afterwards declared they felt none. They concen- 
trated their thoughts, by a powerful effort of abstrac- 
tion, on some object which held them engaged during 
the operation." That is, by an effort of the will 
they were not conscious of painful sensations. Con- 
scious sensation, as has been stated, depends on at- 
tention. "Will you take something?" asked the 
surgeon of the man who had called to have a mashed 
finger amputated. "No," replied the patient, "I'll 
just think hard of something else; " and he did think 
hard of something else, for he said to the writer, who 
was present at the operation : "I hardly felt it. ' ' 

Attention — Will. — Attention is never wholly pas- 
sive ; hence it is a manifestation of will. In one re- 
spect it is always a form of one's doing. In the 



82 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

highest forms voluntary attention is the same thing 
as will. "What we will to do depends on attention. 
As every voluntary act is a deliberate act it follows 
that the will is the essential, dominant factor in decis- 
ion. Decision involves discrimination ; discrimination 
involves the highest form of voluntary attention. 
Voluntary acts are reflective in that they follow re- 
flection or attention. Every voluntary act involves 
attention. In doing a thing the mind is fixed on the 
object desired and in a degree on the action subserv- 
ing this ; hence willing depends on attention. 

Davis says : " It is the special function of the will 
to fix and hold attention. The great significance of 
this fact in human nature becomes apparent when we 
observe that (the control of muscular energy not ex- 
cepted) will has no other controlling power. Volun- 
tary attention to this or that object is the sole but the 
sufficient means of self-control. I have no other, and 
I need no other, means of repressing, arousing, di- 
recting, or combining my faculties, whether cogni- 
tion, feeling or desire. ... To acquire this 
power of attention should be the primary purpose of 
all mental discipline ; for by it alone can one cultivate 
and realize his natural gifts, by it alone can he rigor- 
ously train them, by it alone can he direct their exer- 
cise in the manner best suited to expand and elevate, 
and by it alone can he restrain them from all that 



ATTENTION 83 

would limit and debase." This beautiful description 
of the power and value of attention is worthy of the 
most thoughtful consideration by those who have as- 
sumed the infinite responsibility of training the young. 

Many teachers do not or can not see or hear. 
Slowly, perhaps unconsciously, they become blind 
and deaf. A teacher needs both eyes, trained eyes; 
both ears, trained ears ; and an active, full pulse. The 
recitation affords the teacher an opportunity to train 
pupils to give voluntary attention. A teacher cannot 
secure the attention of a class and pick at pupils in 
their seats at the same time, nor can a teacher secure 
and retain the attention of a class unless he sees every 
member of the class all the time. This he can easily 
do if he has trained himself to see. A passive and 
characterless teacher cannot command the attention 
of pupils. A teacher's presence speaks; it either 
commands respect and obedience or it invites disre- 
spect and disobedience. Pupils are seldom mistaken 
in what a teacher's presence expresses. Slow and 
sluggish mental and physical movements on the part 
of the teacher encourage slow and sluggish habits on 
the part of the pupils. Successful teachers are quick, 
earnest, and positive in speech and action. 

Attention — Action. — "What holds attention, de- 
termines action." But whatever we attend to inter- 
ests us; hence whatever interests us determines ac- 



84 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

tion. In the schoolroom attention and interest are 
synonymous terms. It is self-evident that without 
attention interest is impossible, and without interest 
action is impossible. " Effort of attention is the es- 
sential phenomenon of will." It is all that any act 
of will implies. Attending is willing. If the teacher 
would have his pupils acquire studious habits, he 
must get them to doing, and this he can do only in 
one way — by interesting them in their studies. No 
one can tell a teacher exactly how to do that. Psy- 
chology tells how the mind acquires knowledge, but it 
cannot prescribe methods of instruction for individual 
teachers. The teacher whose knowledge of the sub- 
jects he teaches is broad and deep, and whose person- 
ality is strong, winning, and inspiring, is more likely 
to secure and retain the attention of his pupils than a 
teacher whose knowledge of the subject is scanty and 
whose presence is discouraging. 

Attention — Habit. — Giving attention is a habit, 
and like all other habits is a growth. Success in the 
schoolroom, as well as elsewhere, is the product of 
attention, purpose, and labor. The habit of attend- 
ing is acquired and maintained only by forcing the 
mind to attend, by willing it back to the object as 
often as it wanders away from it. Only in this way 
will the inattentive, wandering mind acquire the habit 
of giving attention. The will must be obeyed until 



ATTENTION 85 

the most valuable of all mental habits is acquired, the 
habit of attending. Cultivate attention. Many a 
man passes through life without concentrating his 
mind on any subject. He lives passively, dies pas- 
sively, and is soon forgotten. He believes this or 
that without question, for questioning involves think- 
ing, and thinking is hard work. 

Sully says: "Voluntary attention, like voluntary 
action, as a whole, is perfected in the form of habits. 
By a habit we mean a fixed disposition to do a thing, 
and a facility in doing it, the result of numerous repe- 
titions of the action. The growth of the power of 
attention may be viewed as a progressive formation 
of habit. At first voluntary concentration of mind 
requires a spur and an effort. As soon as the pres- 
ence of strong motive is withdrawn the young mind 
returns to its natural state of listlessness or wander- 
ing attention. A habit of attention first appears as a 
recurring readiness to attend under definite circum- 
stances; for example, when the child goes into his 
classroom or is addressed by somebody." 

Attention — Success. — Tenacity of attention chiefly 
distinguishes the studious and self-possessed pupil 
from the indolent and restless pupil. Many pupils, 
as well as adults, belong more to others than to them- 
selves. Often the seeming dullard in school sur- 
passes the genius because of the tenacity of his atten- 



86 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

tention to one thing until that thing is mastered. 
The brightest pupil might have mastered the same 
class task in half the time had he given the same kind 
of attention to it, but his spasmodic nature scorned 
the restraint of voluntary attention. Spasmodic at- 
tention never wrote a poem, or acquired great knowl- 
edge, or even great learning. Spasmodic attention to 
business never accumulated a great fortune nor estab- 
lished a good business reputation. Tenacity of atten- 
tion usually distinguishes the successful from the un- 
successful business man. 

Compayre says : " It is not only in study that at- 
tention is profitable. The conduct of life and the 
virtues of character have no less need of it than ex- 
cellence of the intelligence has. Defective attention 
in practical life is the synonym of thoughtlessness 
and heedlessness. To be habitually attentive is not 
only the best means of learning and progressing in 
the sciences, and the most effective prayer which we 
can address to the truth in order that it may bestow 
itself upon us ; but it is also one of the most precious 
means of moral perfection, the surest means of shun- 
ning mistakes and faults, and one of the most neces- 
sary elements of virtue." 

Pupils must give undivided attention during the 
recitation if they would succeed in acquiring lasting 
impressions. The teacher that cannot get and keep 



ATTENTION 87 

the attention of his classes during recitation can- 
not succeed in the schoolroom. As iron is forged 
into shape only when it is hot, so mind is drawn out 
only when it gives attention. Lack of attention and 
interest on the part of pupils in their school work is 
usually due to a lack of interest, enthusiasm and 
a definite purpose on the part of the teachers. " As 
is the teacher so is the school." Like produces like, 
and all influence, good or bad, makes an eternal im- 
print on thought and character. 

Thring says : "A teacher might as well stand up 
and solemnly set about giving a lesson to the clothes 
of the class, whilst the owners were playing cricket, 
as to the so-called class if the pupils were inattentive. 
Attention is a thing to be learned and quite as much 
a matter of training as any other lesson. A teacher 
will be saved much useless friction if he acknowledges 
this fact, and instead of expecting attention, which 
he will not get, starts at once with the intention of 
teaching it. " ( Teacher will illustrate. ) 

The pupil's attention the teacher must get and 
hold in one way or another. To this end an earn- 
est, aggressive, sympathetic activity on the part of 
the teacher should characterize his personality during 
every recitation. Personality distinguishes mind from 
matter. Mere clothes and a license to draw public 
money does not fully equip one to teach. Children 



88 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

are not machines and cannot be used as machines. 
Only to the extent that the teacher trains the pupil to 
attend, to think, to help himself is the teacher help- 
ful. Telling, suggesting, and excusing a pupil is per- 
mitting the pupil to continue to sleep. Get the pu- 
pil's attention by calling on him often. Glance 
along the class, pick out an inattentive pupil, call on 
him to recite. Glance along the class again, and 
again, and again, until you have called on every mem- 
ber of the class. 

Earnestness Essential. — Without aggressive, sym- 
pathetic earnestness a teacher cannot attract and re- 
tain the attention of his class. No one can interest a 
class while he is asleep or in a comatose condition. 
If the teacher dreams, the pupils will dream also. 
Want of energy in speech and action is a frequent 
cause of failure in teaching. A dreaming, lingering 
form of expression, accompanied by slow and uncer- 
tain bodily movements on the part of the teacher, 
produces a similar unhealthy condition on the part of 
the pupils. Inspiration is born of confidence and 
energy. Courageous action on the part of teachers 
begets courageous action on the part of pupils. In- 
terest is born of interest. Purpose is seen in the 
eyes, in the gestures, and in the voice. There is a 
magnificent personality in every successful teacher or 
leader. The power which commands and retains the 



ATTENTION 89 

attention of pupils and audiences is inherent in 
teachers and in other leaders. Without presence, 
tact, and enthusiasm no one can secure the attention 
of others, young or old. 

The teacher who knows only one way of presenting 
a subject or of hearing a recitation is little more than 
a machine recitationist. The one-method teacher and 
the traditional believer in the fixedness of things soon 
put the brightest persons to sleep. Mere formalism 
is a search after premature death. All nature teaches 
change. In the primary grades frequent changes in 
the method of hearing recitations is absolutely neces- 
sary to get and retain the attention of the pupils. 
Young pupils like new ways of doing things ; hence 
the primary teacher should know more than one 
way of presenting a subject. In short, she should 
know several ways. It matters little what special 
method she uses if the method is her own. The 
primary teacher must be in a large measure original. 
She cannot successfully reflect the light of another ; 
she must be a sun to herself. In the primary grades 
the teacher's success depends almost wholly on her 
power to secure, and tact to retain the attention of 
her pupils. Without the methodical tact which com- 
pels the pupils to give attention the primary teacher 
is the greatest of all schoolroom failures. Primary 
teachers need tact to execute, and ability to invent. 



90 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACEEE8 

Physical Condition. — In assigning class tasks the 
physical condition of the pupil should be duly consid- 
ered. The physical condition and home environ- 
ments of many pupils make it impossible for them to 
keep pace with those who are physically strong and 
who are blessed with more favorable home surround- 
ings. Every teacher of experience knows that pupils 
attend better in the morning than in the afternoon, 
because a new stock of energy was acquired during 
the night. Weak children are deficient in energy and 
consequently are prone to be inattentive. On ac- 
count of the greater vigor of body and mind in the 
forenoon the more difficult subjects should be dis- 
cussed in the forenoon. Classes in arithmetic, alge- 
bra, and geometry should be heard in the forenoon, 
while the body is most vigorous and the mind the 
freest, the clearest, and the most responsive. 

As sensation, perception, memory, feeling, and 
willing depend on attention, it follows that learning 
depends on attention. The one paramount qualifica- 
tion of the teacher is the ability to get and hold the 
attention of his pupils during recitation. The teacher 
must get and hold the attention of his pupils if he 
would train them. If he has not the indefinable, per- 
sonal magnetism, the^acquired qualifications, the moral 
purpose, the energy, and the enthusiasm that will at- 
tract and keep the attention of his pupils, he cannot 



ATTENTION 91 

govern or train them. Without attention nothing can 
be learned. If we do not get perceptions we have 
nothing to remember. Poor memories usually result 
from inattention and indistinct perception. 

A good method reaches each pupil of the class 
every recitation. In a very large class some will be 
inattentive and form the habit of inattention. A 
large class may give passive attention, but passive 
attention does not acquire lasting impressions. The 
teacher that trains commands attention, and calls out 
the pupil's best effort. Teachers too often forget 
that the primary office of the school is training pupils 
for power, not the acquisition of a specified number 
of text-book facts. In a large class require little of 
a pupil at a time. Keep every pupil on the alert by 
energy and tact during the recitation. Judicious 
questioning by the teacher will usually discover the 
pupil that has been helped. If he has been helped 
he cannot give reasons for his answers. 

From the foregoing brief survey of the part played 
by attention in our mental life, it should be seen by 
the youngest teacher that attention is the determining 
constituent in everj^ mental act, and that it determines 
the character and value of every mental operation. 
Attention plays an important part in our lives ; it de- 
termines the direction of our thoughts, and there- 
fore our hopes, aspirations, characters, and destinies. 



92 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

TEST QUESTIONS ON THE CHAPTER. 

1. Give two definitions of attention. 

2. Define voluntary attention and give two illustrations. 

3. Define non -voluntary attention and give two illus- 
trations. 

4. What is the principal difference between voluntary and 
non -voluntary attention? 

5. On what does voluntary attention chiefly depend? 

6. Why is attention called the "Instrument of education?" 

7. Why is an inattentive pupil an absent pupil? 

8. Why is the teacher who cannot arouse interest and se- 
cure attention a failure? 

9. What is the principal cause of the difference in the 
class -standing of pupils? 

10. Show that conscious sensation depends on attention. 
Give three illustrations. 

11. What is meant by concentration of attention? 

12. Show that attention narrows the field of consciousness. 

13. In what way does narrowing the field of consciousness 
affect the objects still remaining in consciousness? 

14. State and illustrate the main laws of attention. 

15. What are the most common causes of inattention? 

16. Show that perception depends on attention. 

17. Show that interest depends on attention and that at- 
tention depends on interest. 

18. Can one attend to more than one thing at a time? 

19. Show that mental training depends on attention. 

20. Why cannot a passive and timid teacher secure the at- 
tention of pupils? 

21. Is attention a constant or a variable state? 

22. How is the habit of giving attention acquired? 



CHAPTER ni 
SENSATION —PERCEPTION 

The process of attaining knowledge begins with the 
reception of sensations by the mind. Sense supplies 
the materials which the intellect assimilates and elab- 
orates according to its own laws. [ Before we can 
know anything about the material objects which sur- 
round us they must impress our minds through the 
senses. This primary fact of mental science should 
be thoroughly understood by the pupil that he may 
know how dependent the higher processes of mental 
development are on sensation, and how dependent 
sensation is on attention. (The teacher will illustrate 
these facts by showing how dependent perception is 
on sensation, and how dependent sensation is on 
interested, concentrated attention.) 

As stated in Chapter I, mental development is a 
gradual growth. It begins with sensation and ends 
with abstract thinking. Sensation, as here used, is 
the simplest mental state, a state of mind resulting 
from the stimulation or excitation of an incarrying or 
sensory nerve. "Sensation," says Dewey, "is the 
easiest of all mental phenomena to identify." It is 
93 



94 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

the easiest to identify because it can usually be re- 
ferred to some part of the body, to the excitation of 
a particular nerve organ. Sensation involves two dis- 
tinct elements — a physical element and a psychical 
element. It involves both body and mind. What is 
meant by sensation as a result due to nerve stimula- 
tion is best seen by giving examples. 

While writing this article I smell something sweet, 
but I am too busy to tell where the odor comes from. 
That is, I have a sensation of smell. The sensation is 
caused by minute particles of a substance which reach 
the end organs of the nerves of smell and set up vi- 
brations there. These vibrations are carried to the 
brain by an afferent or sensory nerve. So far the 
operation is wholly a physical one, the body only be- 
ing concerned. The mind reacts on the vibrations, 
and distinguishes them from other vibrations which 
reach it from other end organs. This part of the 
operation is psychical. Now, I have a sensation of 
smell. (The teacher will add another example. The 
class will distinguish between the two parts of a sensa- 
tion ; will show that both body and mind are involved. ) 

I am sound asleep. Some one knocks at my bed- 
room door, but I do not hear the knocking. There 
is no sensation of noise for me, because I do not 
attend. The air vibrates, my sensory nerves are in 
good condition, but I do not have a sensation of noise 



SENSATION 95 

because ray mind is asleep. I am unconscious. The 
organs of hearing, and the vibrations caused by the 
stimulation of the proper end organs have done the 
physical part, but the mind has not been aroused; 
hence there is no sensation for i me, Sensation de- 
pends on conscious attention. That is, both body 
and mind must act at the same time. It is also clear 
that while sensation has a physical basis it is a psy- 
chical state. It is mind that feels. The character of 
the impression depends on the character of the vibra- 
tions and the attitude of the mind at the time, on the 
kind of attention given the vibration. 

Sensation is the raw material of knowledge. 
Through the senses the mind receives impressions, 
but these impressions would never lead to objects of 
knowledge if the mind itself did not work on them. 
The mind interprets sensations. It is not difficult to 
understand this statement. Introspection, a looking 
inward, divests the subject of educational psychology 
of all its alleged mysteries. The elementary princi- 
ples of psychology can be understood and applied in 
the classroom without any of the drum-major display 
of polysyllables that are used by the professional lec- 
turer on this subject. 

At birth no other living creature is more ignorant 
and more defenseless than the human infant. Every- 
thing has to be learned from the beginning. He 



96 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

knows nothing of the world that he must explore and 
conquer. With a thousand stimuli nature assails his 
senses, knocks on the door of his mind, and begs for 
admission. The mind responds to these stimuli, and 
finally masters the outer world by perceiving it. 
Sensations make us directly conscious of the action of 
the outer world on the mind. Sensation is sub- 
jective; it is an inward phenomenon that is related to 
the feeling self. It is nothing to the mind till per- 
ceived. The only function of sensation is to supply 
the material on which the mind works. *' Sensations 
are not knowledge any more than wool is cloth." A 
sensation is not the quality of matter nor a knowledge 
of the quality. Sensations are simply the means 
by which objects are revealed. We perceive an ob- 
ject when through sensation the mind is brought into 
contact with it and objectifies it. 

The examples given show that sensation is imme- 
diate and presentative ; that it is a form of feeling 
connected with the bodily organism. The external 
cause of sense-impressions is the movable and vibra- 
tile condition of matter which directly acts on the 
ends of the sensory nerves, and causes an impression 
which is carried by the sensory nerves to the brain. 
We are now ready to study some of the formal defini- 
tions of sensation. 1. " Sensation is a simple mental 
state resulting from the stimulation or excitation of 



SENSATION 97 

the outer or peripheral extremity of an incarrying or 
sensory nerve." 2. "A sensation is the simplest 
psychical reaction against the nerve current caused 
by a physical stimulus." 3. More briefly, sensation 
is a state of consciousness resulting from the stimu- 
lation of a sense-organ. 

Sensation — Attention. — Van Norden says : ' ' The 
freshness and vividness of sensations are intensified 
by attention. An absent-minded person, though a 
lover of music, may lose the pleasing effect of the 
most beautiful symphony or aria through sudden dis- 
traction of attention to some wonted train of thought. 
Either painful or pleasurable sensations may be dulled 
or quite ignored by persistent distraction. Con- 
sciousness turns the yellow spot of its mental eye 
upon the sensation and it is seen more clearly." 
Distinct and clear sensations depend on attention. It 
is not enough that a sense-organ be stimulated. The 
brain centers must react; that is, the mind must at- 
tend. In short, attention must select the sensations 
that the mind wishes to use. 

Sensation — Perception. — " Sense-impressions are 
the alphabet by which we spell out the objects pre- 
sented to us." In order to grasp or apprehend these 
objects these letters must be put together after the 
manner of words. Thus, the apprehension of an 
apple by the eye involves the putting together the va- 



98 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

rious sensations of sight, touch, and taste. This is 
the mind's own work, and is known as perception. 
The result of this activity, i. e., the distinct appre- 
hension of some object, is called a percept. Sensa- 
tions become elements of knowledge only when the 
mind recognizes and uses them by referring them to 
some definite object in space, by localizing or exter- 
nalizing them. That is, by grouping them. The 
grouping is called perception. 

Sensation — Feeling. — Sensation, as the term is 
used in every day life, refers to the pleasant or the 
unpleasant side of sense-impressions. Feelings of 
pleasure and pain fall into two distinct classes. See 
Feeling, Chapter IX. Feeling, as sensation, arises 
immediately from a process of nervous stimulation, 
from the excitation of sensory or incarrying nerves. 
Feelings which arise in this way are called bodily feel- 
ings to distinguish them from feeling as emotions, or 
feelings depending on mental activity alone. 

Sensation — Discrimination. — Sensations rise into 
clear consciousness only when they are picked out 
from other sensations by discrimination. Sensation 
is transformed into mental stock only when the brain 
reacts, only when it is selected by attention for the 
use of the mind. Faint and blurred impressions have 
little intellectual value, because they have only a weak 
assimilating power. This fact suggests method in 



SENSATION 99 

teaching. It suggests that the impression made on 
the pupil's mind by the telling teacher will soon pass 
away. It suggests that interest and energy on the 
part of both teacher and pupil should be seen and 
felt during the recitation. Passiveness on the part of 
the teacher soon begets passiveness on the part of the 
pupils. Example is contagious. 

Sensations are merely the means by which objects 
in the external world become known to the soul. We 
perceive only when through conscious sensation we 
are made to know the existence of external objects. 
To the mind a thought, an odor, a flavor are psychical 
objects. The self regards the entire external world 
as objective. Anything which the mind cognizes is 
objective. To cognize is to know. We cannot know 
without knowing something as an object. In every 
state of consciousness there is an objective and a sub- 
jective element. That is, there is both a conscious- 
ness of an object as distinguished from self, and 
a consciousness of self as distinguished from an 
object. (Teacher will fully explain.) 

Prof. James says: " Sensations are the first things 
in consciousness. They are the immediate results 
upon consciousness of nerve-currents as they enter 
the brain, and before they have awakened any sug- 
gestions or associations with past experiences. It is 
impossible to rigorously define a sensation ; and in the 

LofC. 



100 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

actual life of consciousness, sensations popularly so- 
called, and perceptions merge into each other by in- 
sensible degrees." "Sensation," says Dewey, "is 
the meeting-place, the point of coincidence of the self 
and nature. It is in sensation that nature touches 
the soul in such a way that it becomes itself psy- 
chical, and that the soul touches nature in such a way 
that it becomes itself natural." 

Intensity of Sensation. — The greatest difference 
in the character of our sensations is that of intensity. 
The intensity of a sensation corresponds to the char- 
acter of the motion which occasions it. The ultimate 
physical occasion of sensation is always some form of 
motion. The intensity of a sensation varies with the 
force of the stimulus. The sensation caused by a 
bright light is stronger than the sensation caused by a 
faint light. The sensation caused by a loud sound is 
stronger than the sensation caused by a soft sound. 
These illustrations show that the intensity of a sensa- 
tion depends on the strength of the motion which oc- 
casions it, and the attention given the stimulus. 

The physical stimulus of sensation is mechanical 
pressure of some kind. All bodies, whether solids, 
liquids or gases, are capable of exciting sensations of 
contact. The amount of stimulation required to 
arouse the soul to activity alwaj^s depends on the atti- 
tude of the mind toward the exciting cause. A feeble 



smtsATiox loi 

sensation closely attended yields a more distinct per- 
cept than a stronger sensation indifferently or pas- 
sively attended. The value of all forms of mental 
activity depends on the character or kind of attention 
given the activity. This fundamental fact should be 
recognized in every school exercise. 

Training of the Senses. — The senses are important 
factors in the development of the faculties. Mental 
growth logically precedes mental development. As 
knowledge takes its rise in sensation it is clear that 
the outer world exists for the soul, not wholly for the 
gratification of our desires. The senses are trained 
by a proper use of them. The eyes and the ears, the 
highest senses, are trained to a high degree of perfec- 
tion by using them as instruments of discrimination. 
' ' Our senses become adapted to any use we choose to 
make of them and their value depends on ourselves." 
It has been wisely said: "All men look upon the 
same world, but not with the same eyes or to the 
same purpose." "The importance of the special 
senses depends on their possessing certain well-defined 
characteristics, whereby they are fitted to be signs or 
indications of qualities in external objects, as well as 
of the changes which take place in these. The sum 
of our knowledge of things is limited by the number 
of distinguishable characters among our sensations." 

Training the senses means the regular and sys- 



102 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

teniatic exercise of the senses with a view to making 
the sense-percepts acquired clear and distinct, and the 
efficient instrument in developing the conceptual and 
reasoning powers. The well-established fact, the 
easily proved fact, that "There is nothing in the 
mind that was not first in the senses," is sufficient ar- 
gument for training the senses during the first years 
of school life. The teacher that does not believe in 
training the senses is wholly ignorant of the relation 
of the mind to the body, as well as of the relation 
that exists between the raw materials of knowledge, 
sensation, and the finished product, thought. 

As education begins with the senses the training of 
the pupil should begin with the training of his senses. 
As the senses are developed before the reasoning 
powers they should be the first to be trained. The 
school offers many opportunities to train at least the 
three most important senses — sight, hearing, and 
touch. The apprehension of almost every object ap- 
peals to more than one sense ; hence more than one 
sense should be appealed to whenever possible. The 
greater the number of senses that contribute to the 
percept, the clearer and more definite the percept. 
Bunyan says : " The town of Man-Soul has five gates, 
eye-gate, ear-gate," etc. Too many teachers ap- 
proach or appeal to only one gate, the eye-gate. 

Singing. — Singing exercises afford the teacher an 



SENSATION 103 

opportunity to train the ear to discriminate between 
the high and the low, the soft and the harsh in vol- 
urne, and quality of voice. The education of the ear 
for music is slow. Noises startle the infant, but 
seem to please the growing child. " The more he is 
stunned, and the more he stuns others, the happier 
he seems." Singing, like speech, is a matter of im- 
itation, and should be first learnt by the ear. The 
child speaks because he has heard others speak ; he 
will sing from hearing others sing. After a time the 
notes of the diatonic scale should be introduced. 
Compayre is of the opinion that in some schools too 
much importance is attached to singing by note, and 
that thus the only purely aesthetic subject in our 
schools is degraded. 

Not all the senses are equally important in an intel- 
tellectual sense. Sight, hearing, and touch are the 
most important of the senses. Of these sight sup- 
plies the greatest number of percepts ; hence no op- 
portunity should be lost to train it. "The eye 
should be appealed to as often as possible. A child 
remembers what he sees much better than what he 
hears." "Learn by doing," was Froebel's maxim. 
Train the senses by using them. Activity is a neces- 
sity in sense-training as well as in intellectual and 
muscular training. The kindergarten offers abundant 
opportunity to train the pupil's senses. 



104 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

Reading. — This exercise if not made mechanical 
by the routine teacher affords excellent opportunities 
to train the sense of hearing, the sense next in im- 
portance in an intellectual sense to the sense of sight. 
In the reading exercise wide differences in the volume 
of the tone should be first presented, and gradually 
the volume of voice reduced or lowered. The dis- 
crimination required to distinguish the different audi- 
tory impressions, the different degrees of emphasis 
given words and phrases, besides training the sense of 
hearing, also trains the will by demanding concen- 
trated voluntary attention. 

As the senses supply the raw material of knowl- 
edge it follows logically that the quality of the sensa- 
tions is of prime importance. The school, therefore, 
should train the senses of the pupils. Pupils should 
be trained to see, to hear, to feel, to taste, to smell, 
for through these avenues they receive the material 
which the mind uses in acquiring knowledge. Each 
sense should be trained to respond promptly and fully 
to nerve stimulation. As perception depends on sen- 
sation it follows that the character of the percept 
depends on the quality of the sensations used and 
on the kind of attention given. 

Map Drawing. — Map drawing, the most important 
feature of the work in text-book geography, is an ex- 
cellent training of the sense of sight. Drawing maps 



SENSATION 105 

trains not only the eye, but the hand and will also. 
Catechism geography, the only kind of geography 
taught in too many schools, does not train the eye, 
the ear, the memory, the imagination, or the will. It 
chills feeling; hence weakens the will. We will yet 
have kindergarten and manual training departments 
in all public schools. 

Drawing — Writing. — Both of these daily school 
exercises train the eye and the hand. The exercises 
in drawing in the primary grades should be limited to 
the drawing of actual objects — objects which the 
pupil can handle as well as see. These exercises are 
admirably adapted to the training of the muscular 
sense. Writing trains the eye in forming the letters 
of the alphabet, fifty-two letters, large and small. 

Why is it that so many pupils fail in spelling? It is 
because they have not been trained to see ; because the 
power of visualizing words has never been developed. 
Pupils must acquire correct images of words or they 
cannot recall their correct spelling. In the primary 
rooms the chief reliance for the correct spelling of 
words is on the sense of sight. Pupils would seldom 
misspell a word if teachers would train them to see 
the words on the printed page. They should be 
trained to see the silent letters, the syllabication, the 
accented syllable or syllables, then the word as a 
whole. Train the pupil to see clearly. 



106 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

The correct pronunciation of words must come 
through an appeal to the ear. There are few, rela- 
tively speaking, who can give the six sounds of a. 
Many cannot detect any difference between two dis- 
tinctly different sounds of a vowel. The defect is 
usually due to the fact that the ear has not been 
trained to discriminate between sounds. The writer 
cannot always tell ' ' Nearer My God to Thee ' ' from 
"The Eock of Ages." The training of the senses 
during the first ten years of life is too far-reaching in 
its possibilities to be neglected by mothers and pri- 
mary teachers. A methodical and persistent training 
of the senses should be begun in the nursery and con- 
tinued in the kindergarten and in the lowest grades 
of the common schools. 

As the senses supply the material of knowledge, it 
follows that they should be methodically and persist- 
ently exercised in the primary grades. Spencer says : 
"If the education of the senses has been neglected, 
all later education has about it something sleepy, 
blurred, insufficient, which it is impossible ever to 
make good again. The man, busy in practical life, 
in art and science, needs his own power of observa- 
tion, for which reason it should be already developed 
in the child. Object lessons should not only be given 
in a way different from the one generally used, but 
should also be extended to a much larger circle of ob- 



SENSATION 107 

jects, and be continued to a much later age than is 
now done. They should not be confined to the con- 
tents of a house, but should include all that fields, 
woods, quarries, and the seashore offer. They should 
not cease with early childhood, but should be con- 
tinued during youth in a way which gradually and im- 
perceptibly leads to the investigation of the naturalist 
and the scientist. 

With occasional exceptions the teachers of to-day 
do not train the child's senses. The kindergarten, 
when under the direction of trained and experienced 
teachers, does excellent work in the earlier training of 
children. The teachers in the other grades should 
continue the training begun in the kindergarten. The 
public school teacher should train the pupil to use his 
senses in acquiring vivid, clear impressions ; then train 
him to give clear expression to his thoughts and feel- 
ings. Expression must accompany impression during 
the pupil's whole school and college course if he is to 
become in any true sense educated. Such training 
would be infinitely better for him than making him a 
passive receptacle for text-book facts. The primary 
object of education is a trained mind — a mind that 
can think clearly and comprehensively — a mind that 
can act instantly, not next day. Instruction that does 
not train pupils to think quickly, correctly, and cour- 
ageously falls short of its well-established possibilities. 



108 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

PERCEPTION. 

We have learned that the mind is aroused to 
activity by the stimulus which reaches it from the 
senses. The act of the mind which refers sensation 
to an object in the outer world is called perception. 
Without sensation, however, the object could not be 
perceived. The first things that a child knows are 
the sense objects which impress his sense. These 
sensations the mind changes (we do not know how) 
into mental pictures called percepts. 

Nature of Perception. — It is necessary at the out- 
set to give a brief account of the method by which 
we acquire knowledge. It should be constantly kept 
before the pupil that knowledge is acquired. The 
pupil should be clearly impressed with the fact that 
mind is developed only by its own activity ; that use 
strengthens, enlarges, and enriches. Perception is 
the process by which first-hand knowledge is ac- 
quired. The child observes sense-objects, receives 
impressions, and these impressions are elaborated into 
ideas. These ideas are mental pictures of single, 
concrete, unrelated things. All knowledge has this 
humble and personal beginning. From these simple 
facts it may be seen that perception is that stage of 
knowledge in which the function of discrimination 
predominates. (The teacher will explain this fact.) 



PEBCEPTION 109 

The child's first lessons are object lessons. His 
earliest knowledge does not come through the use of 
words or from others. He is not dependent on 
others for his first perceptions, but acquires them 
through the active exercise of his own faculties. 
Through sensation he comes into contact with the 
outside world and perceives it. His first knowledge 
is of things brought before his mind through the use 
of one or more of his senses. Through the sense of 
sight he recognizes his mother, his nurse; through 
the senses of sight, hearing, and touch he recognizes 
his rattle, his bell, etc. This intimate relation be- 
tween sensation and perception is sufficient reason for 
treating the two subjects in the same chapter. 

Outward perception (there is also an inward per- 
ception caused by some form of mental activity alone) 
is the intellectual function through which we gain im- 
mediate knowledge of the external world. ' ' The 
world of perception, with all the things that consti- 
tute it, is set over against the self." Perceptions are 
objective phenomena, something brought before the 
mind by the use of one or more of the senses. " The 
process of perception may be divided into two well- 
marked stages, the discrimination and identification of 
sense-impressions, and the conjunction of the present 
sense-impressions with reproduced images of past im- 
pressions." The examples illustrate these stages. 



110 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

I see an orange and get the sensations of color and 
size; I drop it and get the sensation of sound; I 
smell it and get the sensation of odor; I put a piece 
of it in my mouth and get the sensation of taste ; I 
explore its surface with my hand and get the sensa- 
tion of touch and temperature. The mind combines 
these various sensations into one group, called a per- 
cept. Until Lhe mind groups the sensations there is 
no perception. In this example each of the five spe- 
cial senses contributes something to the percept. In 
the exercise of each sense I perceived immediately ; 
that is, I was immediately conscious of the positive 
existence- of a phenomenon. (The class will give two 
or three more illustrations.) 

I hear a bell ring. The vibrations set up by ring- 
ing the bell are carried to the ears, thence to the 
auditory nerves, and by the nerves to the brain, where 
the impressions are differentiated from other impres- 
sions and recognized as auditory impressions. So far 
I have only heard a bell ring. I have heretofore had 
many auditory impressions of various kinds. Many 
of these impressions I can distinctly recall. But the 
presence of this particular auditory impression causes 
me to discriminate it from the memory of other 
sounds and assimilate it with the sound of a bell. I 
now know that I hear a bell ring. I know more, for 
the auditory impressions of the present are supple- 



PERCEPTION 111 

merited by impressions of the same kind previously 
received, and b}^ the aid of the mind I have a mental 
picture of a church building with a bell hanging in 
the spire. I now know I hear a church bell ringing. 
Observation and experience prove that the process 
of perception does not go far before apperception re- 
inforces it. That is, the child uses his sense-per- 
cepts in acquiring new percepts. He grasps new 
things with the help of old things. This fact aids 
him in acquiring new ideas, and also vitalizes and en- 
larges his old ideas. Clear ideas once formed are in 
no sense dead ; they are living powers that help us in 
acquiring new ideas. This every-day fact is very 
suggestive to the teacher who believes that mind is a 

Co 

progressive development, and that " Gifts do not en- 
rich." The value of the old ideas in " taking; in " or 
apperceiving new things depends on their vigor and 
clearness. A little thinking; shows that all the higher 
intellectual processes are involved in the formation of 
clear percepts. Clear percepts depend on the pupil's 
habits of study and the apperceiving power of the 
mind. See Apperception, Chapter VI. 

Observation and experience prove that sense-im- 
pressions cannot give us definite knowledge without 
the help of our past experience, without bringing to 
bear on the new idea the interpreting power of old 
ideas. Knowing a new thing means the revival and 



112 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACIIEBS 

use of old things. Knowing is coupled with a process 
of thought, apperception, in which the new percep- 
tion is "taken in" through the use of old ideas. 
One cannot interpret a new idea without thinking, 
and thinking means comparison and classification. 
The teacher should keep constantly in mind the two 
facts that sensation is not knowledge, and that the 
value of percepts depends on their depth, clearness, 
and vigor. Observation that does not involve atten- 
tion and thinking is valueless in an educational sense. 
Flitting passive attention to new ideas cannot yield 
reliable perceptions. (The teacher will explain.) 

When studying attention we learned that a sensu- 
ous presentation gets its meaning through its connec- 
tion with past experiences. That is, the mind reads 
itself into the sensation. What is retained and re- 
vived depends on the perceptive and apperceptive 
power of the mind. Perception gives definiteness to 
individual objects; apperception gives character to 
new ideas; retention gives character to the mind, 
to the self. An idea is not held in the mind as a 
dead thing; it reacts on the mind, and thus modifies 
or alters the nature of the mind. Without attention 
the new idea cannot be taken into the mind, and 
without apperception it would not be recognized. 

Perception is the process that reaches out after the 
fullest and richest knowledge of individual objects. 



PERCEPTION 113 

Perception gives us definite ideas of individual no- 
tions. Sensation only' arouses mind; mind perceives. 
Take as an example the visual perception of a tree. 
The sensations of lio-ht and the muscular sensations 
caused by moving the eye from one point of the tree 
to another must be combined by simultaneous asso- 
ciation before they can be referred to an object. 
These present sensations must be supplanted or rein- 
forced by all previous experiences involved in the 
perception of a tree. This and more too before we 
have the perception of a tree. So far we have only 
consoli dated sensations. The interpreting power of 
attention must come in and translate these sensations 
into a definite meaning — a tree. 

In every perception the mind makes its contribu- 
tion from past perceptions. The senses furnish only 
the raw materials of knowledge. A reflective study 
of this introductory matter shows that outward per- 
ception is immediate knowledge of an external object, 
and that it has only two factors — a subject knowing, 
the self, and an object known, the thing perceived. 
We will now examine some formal definitions of per- 
ceptions. 1. " Perception is the process of localizing 
sensations and referring them to definite objects." 
2. " Perception is knowledge of actually present and 
particular things or events." A careful study of the 
definitions of perception shows that it is the least de- 



114 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

veloped and the most particular form of knowledge. 
The objects perceived are "The world of senses." 
The sensations are not perceived, but something be- 
yond them is. What is it that perceives? The self 
perceives. What is perceived? It is something in 
the outer world which has been brought before the 
conscious self by the stimulation of one or more 
sense organs. Where does the perception occur? It 
occurs in the brain. A percept is the result of 
an act of perception. 

Until aroused by sensation the mind is compara- 
tively passive. It begins its work by combining the 
sensations which it selects for use into bundles or 
percepts. Sensation is the indispensable prerequisite 
of knowledge. When a sensation is received by the 
mind, the mind refers it to some object capable of 
producing it ; as, for example, certain vibrations strike 
my nostrils, producing a sensation or odor. My 
mind immediately connects the sensation with pre- 
vious sensations — the outside world and to some ob- 
ject — a bottle of cologne or an apple. Receiving 
sensations and referring them to certain objects in 
the outer world brings the object producing the sen- 
sation immediately before the mind. The result or 
impression made on the mind by bringing an object 
before it through the use of the senses is called a 
percept, A percept is the direct result of acquisition 



PERCEPTION 115 

through the senses, the complete psychical product 
formed by localizing sensations in time and space. 

A percept is a product of the mind, and is regarded 
as an object. It may be a concrete, visible thing or 
an abstract, invisible thing. To the mind an abstract 
moral maxim is a thing, an object. The term percep- 
tion has a wider meaning than is usually given it in 
elementary text-books on psychology. Perception is 
in its wider, truer sense that mode of experience by 
which we become acquainted with relations. A few 
simple illustrations will suffice to show the wider 
meaning of the term. I taste two strawberries and 
learn that one is sweeter than the other. In this ex- 
perience I perceive the relative sweetness of the two 
berries. I see two horses in the field and see that 
one is larger than the other. In this experience I 
perceive the relative size of the two animals. I hear 
two notes struck on the piano. The interval between 
them is a major third. In this experience I perceive 
the relative pitch of the two notes. The relative 
sweetness, the relative size, the relative pitch are the 
real objects of perception in these experiences. 

Elements of Perception. — The mind by observing 
a repetition of external impresses learns to refer the 
sensations to impacts and causes. Something in the 
brain acts on the sense impressions and refers them 
to external space and unifies them. An illustration 



116 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

will make these statements clear. I experience a sen- 
sation through the sense of hearing. Intuitively I be- 
lieve that the sensation is due to some external cause, 
and from the recollection of similar sensations I be- 
lieve the cause to be the vibration caused by ringing 
a distant church bell. I then construct a complete 
mental picture of the bell as known through the dif- 
ferent senses. The elements of perception are sensa- 
tion, reference, and grouping. (The teacher will 
illustrate this fact. ) 

Sensation — Perception. — We will now briefly no- 
tice the distinguishing difference between sensation 
and perception. Sensation is the simple, psychical 
reaction against the nerve current caused by physical 
stimulus. Perception is the reference of sensations 
outwards to some object; it is a knowledge-giving 
process and is allied to the intellect. Sensation is a 
simple mental state, the simplest mental state. Per- 
ception is a complex mental state. Sensation is only 
presentative. , Perception is presentative or represen- 
tative. Sensation is a passive state of mind. Per- 
ception is an active state of mind. Sensation is the 
consciousness of a subjective feeling, pleasant or un- 
pleasant ; perception is the consciousness of an object 
distinct from the self. 

The clearness of a percept depends on the strength 
of the sensations and the character of the attention 



PEBCEPTION 117 

given during its development. The teacher should 
remember that mental power does not depend on the 
number of ideas in the mind, but on their clearness, 
on their power to assimilate and use new impressions 
and ideas. This well-established fact suggests defi- 
niteness in teaching, frequent reviews, and ample illus- 
trations on the part of the pupil. Usually a pupil 
gets only a superficial view of a subject the first time 
he goes over it; hence reviews are necessary. Me- 
thodical and vigorous reviews deepen and perfect im- 
pressions, but a routine reiteration of text-book facts 
is worthless. (Why is mere routine valueless?) 

Perception — Attention. — Only clear and full per- 
ceptions carry with them interest, and feeling, and 
leave lasting impressions. An object may be seen 
many times before it is rightly seen. A percept be- 
comes fully developed and matured only through re- 
peated acts of perception. Experience verifies this 
fact. Every time we meet a friend the percept of his 
face and expression is deepened and perfected. Re- 
petition usually deepens impressions ; hence the value 
of reviews in school work. It usually requires the 
cumulative effect of many perceptions of the same 
object to develop a clear percept. It is through ex- 
acting reviews that the pupil acquires clear ideas of 
rules and principles and disentangles his vague and 
mixed impressions. 



118 PSYCHOLOGY FOE TEACHEBS 

The external world is non-ego. It is made up of 
particular, separate things and events, which when 
perceived exist in space. I open my eyes and per- 
ceive a room in which are chairs, tables, books, and 
pictures. I perceive each of these objects as a dis- 
tinct thing. Every perception is an individual per- 
ception, and the perceived world is a 'present world. 
The perceived world is a more vivid and distinct world 
than the remembered world. The distinctness of the 
remembered world depends on the depth of the im- 
pressions made in the brain when the world was a 
present world. That is, the distinctness of the re- 
membered world depends on the distinctness of the 
present world. (Teacher will illustrate.) 

The perception of an object, as an apple, is a com- 
plex mental operation. How does the child appre- 
hend the object applet He combines the sensations 
that reach his mind through the senses into a whole. 
It is thus seen that the individual notion or percept is 
the complex of sensations, and that perception is the 
first step in knowing. Sensations do not drop into 
perceptions as pebbles drop into a brook. Only 
those sensations that interest us are used by the mind 
in acquiring percepts. From what has been said and 
illustrated there are two parts in knowing an object : 
first, there must be an excitation in some part of the 
nervous system; second, the contributions from the 



PEBCEPTION 119 

nervous system must be received and interpreted by 
the mind. (Teacher will explain.) 

Knowledge begins with the perception of individual 
notions. The sum is this: To perceive an object 
through the senses is to combine the sensations into a 
whole and regard them as qualities of an object. The 
same object of perception seldom leaves behind pre- 
cisely similar ideas in the minds of different people. 
Of the same face or landscape the poet will acquire a 
different image from that of the botanist, the painter 
a different image from the geologist, and the stranger 
a different image from one who had perceived the 
same object before. As the mind's power to perceive 
is quickened by experience, it follows that the same 
observer will often acquire different percepts of the 
same object. The character of the perception de- 
pends on the character of the sensations ; the charac- 
ter of the sensations depends on the character of the 
stimulus which the sense organs transmit, and the at- 
tention given the stimulus. 

Perception is not merely a passive receiving of im- 
pressions from without, for the mind is not a tablet 
on which the outer world engraves itself. Perception 
is mental activity. In the moment of perception the 
mind is thoroughly active, transforming physiological 
stimuli into percepts. Indeed the more concentrated 
and active the mind during the moment of percep- 



120 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

tion, the more perfect and adequate the percept. 
This fact bears directly on the work of the teacher. 
Without interest on the part of the pupil during the 
recitation the instruction of the teacher is wholly in 
vain. The inattentive pupil is an absent pupil. He 
might as well be on the play-ground as in the class if 
he is not interested in the class. If his recitation is 
not an experience it is a soulless, worthless formality. 
Nine in ten of the teachers who fail can trace their 
failure to their inability to secure and retain the at- 
tention of their pupils during recitation. The power 
to hold the attention of others is both a gift and an 
acquisition. Teacher, you must acquire the power to 
interest your pupils if you would instruct them. 

Experience proves that memory can reproduce only 
the sense-impressions which were clearly perceived. 
Hence retention and reproduction depend on percep- 
tion, and perception depends on attention. The im- 
pression made on the brain by a single perception 
usually becomes indistinct and characterless in time. 
The impression made while the mind is indifferent or 
while it is attempting to attend to more than one 
thing is so indistinct that it has only weak assimilative 
power; it is almost worthless in an educational sense. 
No impression is made on the brain without atten- 
tention and interest for a period of time. Time is 
an important factor in forming percepts. Nerve 



PEBGEPTION 121 

excitation must continue long enough to supply the 
mind with sufficient raw material, sensations, for a 
complete percept. That is, the attention must be 
focused on the object in consciousness long enough 
for the mind to combine the sense stimuli. 

A hasty glance at a beautiful picture or landscape 
makes only an indefinite impression and leaves behind 
it only a blurred and fading picture. To the inat- 
tentive, wandering mind the purest, sweetest, and 
most inspiring strains of music make only a passive 
impression and leave only the occasion for memory. 
' ' A burning coal may be moved so quickly as to ap- 
pear like a circle of fire, when in reality it is but a 
single point." So it is with every sense experience. 
Concentrated attention for a time is the one essential 
element in every form of mental operations. Impres- 
sions must be interpreted before they have meaning, 
and interpretation requires time and attention. If 
the new impression does not interest us, and does not 
receive attention, it lingers awhile in the margin of 
consciousness, then passes away forever. It is, 
therefore, clear that perception depends on atten- 
tion. The apperceptive power of the mind is brought 
into use only through voluntary attention. 

Perception — Concentration. — The larger the field 
of consciousness over which the attention is spread, 
the less intense it will be on any point in that area. 



122 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

It is evident that there may be so many objects in the 
field of consciousness at the same time that only the 
shadow of an impression of each is left in the mind. 
This fact clearly suggests concentration of effort on 
one thing until that thing is mastered. Shotgun 
teaching does not encourage the study habit, for 
vague and indefinite impressions are not accompanied 
by mental pleasure or profit. Study is a pleasure 
only when the mind is concentrated on one thing. 
The application of the foregoing facts to the work of 
the teacher is very apparent. It is clear that the 
value of a school exercise depends almost wholly on 
the state of the pupil's consciousness. If he is trying 
to attend to more than one thing, the recitation will 
be comparatively fruitless. The impressions will be 
so indefinite that they will not remain long in con- 
sciousness. (Teacher will illustrate.) 

Instruction cannot begin until the teacher secures 
the attention of the class. To know how to secure 
the attention of a class and how to retain it is the 
first condition of success in teaching. Every teacher 
knows how hard it is to get the attention of some 
pupils, and he should know that if he is to be of any 
service to those pupils he must get their attention. It 
is futile to talk to a pupil who gives only spasmodic 
attention. Our actions are vigorous and precise in 
proportion to the kind of attention given them. Our 



PEBCEPTION 123 

feelings are pleasurable or painful in proportion to 
the attention we give them. A severe bodily injury 
will not be felt for a while if the attention is focused 
on something else at the time. On the other hand, a 
tr iflin g irritation, the prick of a pin, grows into some- 
thing very disagreeable if the attention is focused on 
it. The teacher will give an illustration of this truth. 
Pupils will also give an illustration. 

That the mind has the power to concentrate its en- 
ergies on a single object is no longer denied. The 
degree to which the mind can be focused on one thing 
varies according to the training the mind has received ; 
but all persons, except the idiotic and the deranged, 
possess the power of concentration in some degree. 
When a motive is presented the mind has the power 
to detain that motive, to hold it in the focus of con- 
sciousness, and exclude other elements wholly or drive 
them into the margin of consciousness. If this state- 
ment were not true education would be impossible. 
(The teacher will illustrate the fact of concentration.) 

Some pupils perceive more readily and clearly than 
others. This fact can usually be traced to their su- 
perior habits of attention. Nothing distinguishes one 
pupil from another as much as his exceptional power 
of attention. What is often called genius is but a 
little more than attention and labor. The power to 
make percepts readily and retain them depends on the 



124 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

habit of attention. The tendency of all minds is to 
retain all percepts, but experience proves that only 
those which were acquired with attention, interest, 
and feeling are retained. An inattentive, restless 
pupil seldoms acquires a distinct and lasting percept. 
Attention, interest, and feeling on the part of a pupil 
accompany every profitable recitation. Without the 
enthusiasm of competency and purpose on the part of 
the teacher, and undivided attention on the part of 
the pupil, the recitation is a traditional, formal farce. 
We cannot observe or recall our observations or clas- 
sify them without attention. 

Perception — Habit. — Power to perceive quickly 
and accurately is a growth ; it falls under the law of 
habit, and can be acquired only in one way — through 
a methodical training of the special senses. One sees 
only what he has been trained to see. In passing a 
show window, filled with different objects, one may 
see only one or two objects, while another will see 
and be able to describe several objects. At a concert 
or opera only those whose ears have been trained to 
perceive fine distinctions in the quality or volume of 
sound are competent to pass intelligent judgment on 
the performance. One hears only what he has been 
trained to hear ; he hears most when he has acquired 
the habit of hearing. The same laws govern the ac- 
quisition and value of all sense perceptions. 



PERCEPTION 125 

Training ends in habit or it has little value. Only 
habitual actions distinguish the purposeful man from 
the wanderer. A habitual action is an acquired ac- 
tion, a habit. It is clearly the teacher's duty to train 
his pupils to perceive quickly and accurately. This 
he can do only when his personal magnetism and tact 
command and hold their attention. Children should 
acquire the habit of focusing their attention on what 
appeals to their minds through the senses, and thus 
acquire the habit of forming ready and reliable per- 
ceptions. When attending becomes a habit percep- 
tions will be clear and definite. 

The frequent repetition of the same kind of a men- 
tal act tends to lessen the amount of conscious effort 
required to perform it. Perception is no exception 
to this general law of habit. It is a well-established 
fact that the frequent repetition of the same kind of 
a mental act facilitates the acquisition of a similar or 
more difficult act. The student who has pursued a 
thought often and viewed it from various positions is 
enabled to comprehend a similar thought more quickly 
and pursue it further than one who has never enter- 
tained the thought. On the other hand, a day la- 
borer who uses the powers of his nervous system 
mostly in manual labor, will without fatigue perform 
a physical labor that would be impossible for the 
student or professional man. 



126 PSYCHOLOGY FOE TEACHERS 

The importance of early training in the formation 
of correct mental habits cannot be overrated. Com- 
paratively few habits are acquired after the age of 
twenty. The teacher can greatly aid the pupil in the 
acquisition of correct habits of study by using correct 
methods of instruction. Right methods of instruc- 
tion are based upon the laws of habit. See Habit, 
Chapter X. Aristotle said that more men are made 
bad and ignorant by education and habit than by na- 
ture. Clear concepts are derived from clear percepts, 
and clear percepts depend on the habit of attention. 

One Thing at a Time. — It is evident that the fewer 
the objects in the field of consciousness the clearer 
will be the impression of each, and that the clearest 
impression will be developed when the attention is 
concentrated on one object. The teacher should bear 
in mind that states of consciousness are exceedingly 
complex ; that is to say, a number of things may be 
in one's mind at the same time. Even in church dur- 
ing the sermon there are often undercurrents of 
thought, trying to get into the focus of conscious- 
ness. One may read a book and listen to a piece of 
music at the same time. Of course such divided at- 
tention is a strain, and the effort to do the two things 
at the same time does not get the best of the book or 
the music. Only during the most concentrated atten- 
tion is the field of consciousness wholly free from 



PEBCEPTION 127 

would-be intruders. All that the average person can 
do is to keep the undercurrents duly subordinate, to 
keep them in the margin of consciousness. We are 
usually both conscious and sub-conscious at the same 
time. (Teacher will explain this fact.) 

Individual Notion. — One main point to be consid- 
ered in teaching is the fact that knowledge starts 
with the percept or individual notion. Presentative 
knowledge is of individual objects. Eepresentative 
knowledge may be of an individual object or of a 
group of like objects. The individual notion may be 
a thing of sense, a relation, not dependent on form, or 
a purely intellectual truth. For instance, a boy gets 
a notion of the object apple through the senses ; of a 
noun in the nominative or objective case through the 
relation of one word to another, though the form of a 
word does not suggest the relation ; of an intellectual 
or moral truth through an inner or spiritual percep- 
tion. An inner observation is a perception. By 
means of inner perceptions we recognize abstract 
truths, moral and social relations. What cannot be 
perceived through the outward senses must be spirit- 
ually perceived through the inner senses. 

The senses furnish the material which the mind 
uses in acquiring the individual notion or percept. 
An illustration or so will suffice to establish this fun- 
damental fact. Looking about my writing desk I 



128 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

perceive through the sense of sight a book, a picture, 
an inkstand, and a pen. Each of these is an indi- 
vidual notion or percept gained through the sense of 
sight. In a similar manner, by passing through a 
room in the dark one may get individual notions of 
various things through the sense of touch. He may 
get an individual notion of a chair, a stove, a lamp, a 
desk. Through the sense of hearing he may get an 
individual notion of a piece of music, the song of a 
bird, the barking of a dog, the ringing of a bell. 
Through the sense of smell he may get an individual 
notion of the scent of a bottle of perfume or a basket 
of apples. Through the sense of taste he may get an 
individual notion of the flavor of an apple or peach. 
Each of the senses, aided by the imagination, may 
give an individual notion or percept. 

Generally more than one sense contributes to the 
individual notion. It cannot be said that a child can 
get a complete, individual notion or percept of an 
apple through one sense. Through the sense of 
sio-ht he gets only the color and the shape of the 
apple ; through the sense of smell he gets only the 
odor ; through the sense of taste he gets only its fla- 
vor; through the sense of touch he gets only the 
smoothness or roughness, and shape. Hence he can- 
not get the idea or individual notion apple through the 
use of any one sense. It is easy to see that after each 



PEBCEPTION 129 

of these senses has sent its report to the mind that 
there remains something for the mind to do. The 
mind must combine these reports into a whole and give 
the whole a name to distinguish this particular group 
or combination of sensations from the group gathered 
from an orange in the same way. Only then can a 
child say " I have perceived an apple." Although the 
mind is absolutely dependent at the start on the 
senses for the material which it uses in acquiring 
knowledge, it finally gets a long way from sensation 
in judging and reasoning. 

Inaccurate reasoning is chiefly due to imperfect 
percepts. Hazy percepts cannot give rise to distinct 
ideas. Indistinct general notions lead to inaccurate 
judgments, to incorrect conclusions. It is as impos- 
sible to build a strong and substantial house upon a 
sand foundation as it is to erect a substantial educa- 
tional edifice upon incomplete and inaccurate percep- 
tions. The substantial building must have a rock 
foundation; the trained intellect must have trained 
sense-perceptions for its foundations. The trained 
teacher will endeavor to help the pupil to build firmly 
by requiring him to use his senses in acquiring an 
ample stock of well-developed percepts. 

A teacher cannot give a pupil anything. All that 
the strongest teacher can do for the brightest pupil 
is to help him to help himself. Knowledge is not a 



130 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

gift; it is a personal acquisition. The value of the 
teacher's services depends on his ability to train his 
pupils to think. Any one can hear pupils recite 
facts in the language of their text-books. Any un- 
educated, untrained man or woman can compel the 
average pupil to stuff himself with definitions, dates, 
and rules. The art of teaching consists in training 
the pupil to rely on himself, to realize himself 
through his own efforts. 

Time weakens impressions. This fact suggests re- 
views in school subjects, especially in the primary 
grades. Reviews aid retention by reinvigorating the 
fading impressions. Reviews also aid retention be- 
cause they usually enlarge and extend the pupil's un- 
derstanding of the subject. What we understand is 
related to past acquisitions and is held in memory by 
association. Impressions once associated with other 
impressions are apt to survive. This fact should be 
ever present in the method of the teacher. If the 
pupil would acquire lasting impressions he must will 
the intruding images floating around in the margin of 
consciousness to disappear, and focus his mind on the 
central thought. 

Reviews. — As experience proves that many per- 
ceptions of an object are required to yield a fully de- 
veloped percept, it follows that the cumulative effort 
of frequent reviews of school subjects is required to 



PERCEPTION 131 

yield a clear idea of the principle involved. The re- 
view lesson offers the teacher the best opportunity to 
impress his pupils with the importance of thorough- 
ness and the value of concentrated attention. It 
offers the teacher the best opportunity to impress his 
pupils with the fact that they often recite much they 
do not understand. It offers the teacher an oppor- 
tunity to compel the inattentive pupil to exhibit him- 
self, and thus impress him with the value of atten- 
tion. The pupil's ability to illustrate in his own lan- 
guage definitions, rules, and processes is the teacher's 
only measure of the pupil's knowledge of the subject. 
The memory recitation of a principle should always 
be followed by one or more original illustrations by 
the pupil or by the class. 

A good method begins with presentation. That is, 
knowledge begins in the senses; hence training the 
perceptive powers is training all the powers of the 
mind. This is true because the value of representa- 
tive knowledge depends on the character of the pre- 
sentative knowledge. The teacher should ever bear 
in mind the psychological fact that memory, imagina- 
tion, and association of ideas depend on perception. 
In short, all mental activities are exercised in percep- 
tion. Assuming that these statements are true, one 
can readily see that a good method passes from the 
individual notion to the general notion. 



132 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

A good method gradually advances from the easy 
to the more difficult, from the simple to the complex. 
The human mind, like the human body, is developed 
gradually. There are no sudden leaps in nature's 
processes. The pupil that has a clear conception of 
simple addition has but little more to learn in sub- 
traction; the pupil who has a clear conception of 
simple proportion has very little more to learn in 
compound proportion ; the pupil that has a clear idea 
of a lake sees the ocean ; the pupil who has a clear 
idea of the simple sentence has only a little more to 
learn to comprehend the complex sentence. Teacher, 
build rock foundations. 

A good method presents wholes first, then parts. 
That is, a good method passes from the individual 
notion to parts of that notion, from unity to any 
number of, times unity or to any fractional part of 
unity. A good method makes knowledge definite. 
This means that what the pupil learns he should 
really know. The teacher should never assume that 
the pupil knows. Many pupils recite text-book 
statements, definitions, and rules correctly and flu- 
ently, but cannot illustrate their meaning or apply 
them. To test the pupil's knowledge of the subject 
question him. Some one said long ago : " The art of 
questioning is the art of teaching." The methods in 
use in many schools give the pupil a vast accumula- 



PEBCEPTION 133 

tion of facts, unclassified and undigested. These 
facts, like seeds in a dry box, may be retained, but 
they do not grow. The mind, like the bod}^, is gov- 
erned by the universal law that use gives still greater 
use. The root weakness of most teaching is the fact 
that it ends with impressions. The pupil is not re- 
quired to assimilate, to give meaning to his im- 
pressions. (The teacher will explain.) 

Look Within. — A teacher should look within for 
the inspiration which inspires his pupils. He should 
rely more on his personal power than on text-book ; 
he should rely more on sound methods of instruc- 
tion than on devices. If he would train and dis- 
cipline the minds of his pupils his instruction must 
accord with the laws of mental development. Educa- 
tion is governed by laws. The manner in which a 
pupil acquires knowledge depends on the method of 
of the teacher. " The act of acquiring knowledge," 
says White, "is of more benefit to the child than the 
knowledge acquired." A child is made a man by 
education* School education lays the foundation; 
self-education erects the building. A teacher who 
does not feel that he is being self-educated is intellec- 
tually and morally unfit to teach others. Only those 
that are morally and intellectually awake can morally 
and intellectually awaken others, young or old. 



~v 



134 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 



TEST QUESTIONS ON THE CHAPTER. 

1. Define sensation and give an illustration. 

2. By what means is the mind aroused to activity? 

3. On what two things does sensation depend? 

4. In what way are objects in the external world brought 
into contact with the mind? 

" 5. On what special sense does the correct spelling of words 
usually depend? 

6. What must accompany impression to give it life? 

7. Give two definitions of perception. 

8. What is the result of a perception called? 

9. Distinguish between sensation and perception. 

10. Does perception invariably follow sensation? 

11. Tell how the percept of a material object is formed. 

12. Is perception an active or a passive state of mind? 

13. On what do the clearness and the depth of a perception 
usually depend? 

14. On what does the value of a school exercise depend? 

15. How may perceptions be prevented from fading out? 

16. Name one main point to be considered in teaching. 

17. What is meant by individual notion? Illustrate. 

18. Define percept and show how one is formed. 

19. On what does the distinctness of a percept depend? 

20. How may imperfect percepts be perfected? Illustrate. 

21. Name the important conditions of perception, physical 
and psychical. 

22. In what way are other mental activities affected when 
training in perception has been neglected? 

23. In the school life of a pupil what is more important 
than text -book facts? 



CHAPTER IV 
MEMORY 

In the preceding chapter we learned that the act of 
perception is momentary. There would be no en- 
during knowledge of things if we could not retain 
and reproduce sense cognitions. Memory removes 
one limitation from knowledge as it exists in percep- 
tion ; it removes the limitation of the present. While 
perception is the primal source of knowledge it has 
no past or future. Perception is confined to what is 
directly and immediately in consciousness. "The 
world of knowledge as it exists for memory is a world 
of events which have happened." 

One's mental stock is vastly greater than what is 
present in his mind at any time. This fact is due to 
memory, to the power of the mind to revive past ex- 
periences. There is in your mind, held there uncon- 
sciously, in a manner no one can explain, a multitude 
of facts and experiences of which you are not aware, 
which you have not thought about for days, weeks, 
months, or years, but which you can again bring into 
consciousness. A suggestion is all that is needed to 
start the train of facts or events that has been appar- 
135 



136 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

ently dead during a long past. An example will illus- 
trate this fact and aid us to see the relation between 
perception and memory. This is Christmas. Now 
think about what you did last Christmas. Call on 
memory to revive the experiences of one year ago, 
and you will have images of things you have not had 
in your mind since that holiday. (The teacher will 
illustrate this fact. The class will also give two 
original illustrations.) 

This picture is a mental picture, called an image, of 
things that were perceived one year ago. It is a copy 
of what you then perceived. It is not as vivid as the 
impression made at the time through the senses, for 
time weakens all impressions. During the time which 
intervened between the two holidays the mind held 
the sense impressions (no one knows how) and was 
ready at any time on the slightest suggestion to re- 
vive the impressions, or, in other words, to live over 
again in memory the scenes of a year ago. "The 
elements of knowledge, collected by the senses, pre- 
sented to and seized by the attentive mind, would still 
be practically valueless were there no possibility of 
retaining, modifying, moulding, recombining them, 
and reproducing them at will." (The teacher will 
illustrate the perception of an apple; the class will 
show in what particular respect the percept differs 
from the memory picture.) 



MEMOBY 137 

From what has been stated and illustrated memory 
may be denned: 1. "Memory is the re-presenta- 
tion of a past experience." 2. Memory is the name 
of the mental act which revives the past. 3. " Mem- 
ory may be denned as knowledge of particular things 
or events once present, but no longer so." It must 
be obvious to the most casual thinker that the power 
to revive or recall a past experience depends chiefly 
on the character of the experience. The ability to 
revive the mental image of an object depends on the 
completeness and adequacy of the original percept. 
The term memory is applied to those mental acts 
which are involved in the recalling or re-presentation 
of what has faded out of consciousness. 

Once it was generally believed that our past expe- 
riences had a sort of private existence, an existence 
apart from the conscious activity of the mind; that 
the mind is a receptacle or chamber into which facts 
may be stored, and from which they may be repro- 
duced or recalled. Not so. What we remember de- 
pends on laws controlling the association of ideas. 
When the mind ceases perceiving the perceptions 
cease to exist ; only the condition of the brain cells 
remains to mark the perception. All else ceases to 
exist with the original experience. Memory is not 
limited to sense perceptions. The emotions and fan- 
cies of the mind may be recalled. 



138 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEES 

Order of Memory. — The natural order is : per- 
cepts, retention, images. In acquiring a percept the 
mind acts ; it combines sensations, and distinguishes 
them from other combinations of sensations pre- 
viously acquired. In reproducing the percept as an 
image the mind also acts. That is, perception and 
reproduction are active mental states. The retention 
of percepts is a passive condition of mind, or rather, is 
a condition of the brain. As the mind can reproduce 
only what has been registered and retained in the 
brain, it follows that memory implies three well- 
marked stages : first, apprehension; second, retention; 
third, reproduction. To apprehend an object is to 
fix it in memory ; to retain an impression is to hold 
it in memory ; to reproduce an impression is to bring 
it into memory. "When the mind acts in such a 
way that it records, retains, and restores the ideas, 
gained by its own activity, it is said to perform an act 
of memory." (Teacher will illustrate.) 

Retention. — By retention is meant a brain condi- 
tion, not a storehouse. Images are not retained, but 
the brain condition which makes their reproduction 
possible remains, and may be brought into use again 
by an exciting cause. For the time the image passes 
out of consciousness; it does not exist anywhere. 
The brain, like the cylinder of a phonograph, retains 
the conditions which make reproduction possible. 



MEMOS r . 139 

The cylinder of the phonograph does not retain the 
sound of the voice, but the condition made by the 
force of the sound on the cylinder. There can be no 
doubt that certain properties of the brain-substance 
furnish the physical conditions of memory images. 
(Teacher will explain.) 

Retention is dependent on a healthy condition of 
the brain cells, the attitude of the learner's mind dur- 
ing perception, and the teacher's method of present- 
ing the subject. If the learner is attentive and inter- 
ested, and the teacher's method is in accord with the 
well-established laws of mental development, there 
will be little need to pay special attention to the de- 
vices and rules for the cultivation of the memory. 
As retention depends on the depth of the impression 
made in the brain cells, the fading tendencies of im- 
pressions may be arrested by reinvigorating them with 
new impressions. Memory is most surely cultivated 
by developing clear percepts. 

The power of the brain to retain impressions de- 
pends in a large degree on the physical condition of 
the brain, and on the force with which the impression 
is stamped on it. The power of the mind to repro- 
duce an impression depends in a large measure on the 
number of attachments or associated ideas by which 
it is retained. Hence, training the memory is train- 
ing in perception; and in finding as many links of 



140 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

association as possible. If the pupil expects to re- 
vive what he perceives he must perceive it just as it 
is. If the original perception was what it should 
have been it will not only become more fully devel- 
oped by subsequent uses, but it will gain in apper- 
ceptive power by interpreting and assimilating new 
impressions. The first step, then, in remembering 
anything is to get it into the mind in the right way, 
and that way is to perceive it correctly. If that is 
thoroughly done the first step in cultivating the 
memory is taken, and it needs no special training. 
Teacher, remember that the cultivation of memory 
begins with perception, and that recollection depends 
on the laws which associate ideas. 

Memory — Perception. — The most vivid impres- 
sions grow dim and often fade out. As every im- 
pression is weakened by time a single perception 
rarely suflices for a lasting impression. ' ' Interest is 
rarely so keen as to be able to dispense with a num- 
ber of repetitions. On the other hand, no number of 
repetitions will avail if there is no interest taken in 
the subject, and the thoughts wander." Unusually 
several acts of perception are required to perfect and 
give permanence to a perception. The number of 
perceptions required to make a lasting impression de- 
pends on the habits of the pupil and the method of 
the teacher. Indistinct perception lies at the root of 



MEMORY 141 

bad memory. An inattentive, restless, passive pupil 
cannot acquire permanent perceptions. If the pupil's 
mind is preoccupied the most effective instruction is 
lost to him. Only clear-cut images and well-defined 
feelings can be revived by memory. The mind can 
recall real experiences only. The vividness of an im- 
pression is due to concentrated attention and interest. 
The character and permanence of a perception de- 
pend on the attitude of the mind during the per- 
ceptive process. Experience, the greatest of teachers, 
asserts that the things we remember are those things 
to which we gave voluntary attention. In short, the 
permanence of an impression depends on vigor of 
attention, interest, and feeling. The non- voluntary 
attention, accepted from the majority of pupils by too 
many teachers, is a poor substitute for the voluntary 
attention, born of interest. If pupils^are permitted 
to become inattentive or indifferent during recitation, 
the impressions they receive will be so indefinite that 
they cannot recall them the next day. The mind 
cannot retain what it did not entertain. The depth 
of the impression made on the brain cells usually de- 
termines the length of time an impression will be re- 
tained. The registration of an impression does not 
always mean retention. The permanence of a regis- 
tration depends on the character of the registration. 
The impression made is often so feebly registered (as 



142 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

in the case of the inattentive pupil) that it will soon 
fade out. It is clear therefore that registration does 
not necessarily imply retention. 

A feeble perception has little educational value, for 
it has little or no apperceptive power. What we 
recollect, recall, and use depends on voluntary atten- 
tion and the power of the brain to retain impressions. 
Not all minds are equally retentive. Many pupils 
who perceive quickly forget readily. The sum is 
this : The development of mental power, the value of 
mental power, the value of mental effort, the trust- 
worthiness of memory depend as a rule on interest- 
ed, voluntary attention. "Attention," says Joseph 
Cook, " is the mother of memory, and interest is the 
mother of attention. To secure memory secure both 
her mother and her grandmother." 

From what has been said it is evident that all the 
processes of education are dependent on perception 
and memory, for what we cannot recollect we cannot 
use for any intellectual purpose. What we recollect 
depends on how it was perceived. This is a school- 
room fact of great importance. As memory does not 
create, it follows logically that the ability to revive an 
experience depends on the character of the experi- 
ence. That is, the ability to recall a fact depends al- 
most wholly on the circumstances of its acquisition. 
Interest at the time of acquisition is essential to the 



MEMOS Y 143 

durability of knowledge, for we attend only to that 
which interests us. 

The tactful teacher will lead the pupil to see the 
relation that exists between perception and memory. 
He will lead him to see that he must perceive this or 
that just as it is if he ever expects to use it again. 
He will lead him to see that the power of the mind to 
recall a fact depends on how the fact was acquired. 
That is, retention depends on the method of acquisi- 
tion ; on the receiving and assimilating power of the 
apperceiving ideas already in the mind. Memory 
means getting facts into the mind in such a way that 
they can be gotten out again when they are needed. 
If the original perception of an object was what it 
should have been, deep, clear, accurate and compre- 
hensive, the result of interest and attention, memory 
will take care of itself. 

In all that the pupil does in school he should be 
fully awake. It is the teacher's duty to awaken him 
and keep him awake. To keep him awake requires 
more enthusiasm on the part of the teacher than is 
exhibited in many schools. To awaken a pupil to the 
value of his opportunity requires more tact and pur- 
pose than is usually exhibited by the teacher who 
spends his mornings and evenings reading law or 
medicine. To arouse the mind, to quicken the per- 
ceptive faculties of the average pupil, requires meth- 



r 

144 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

odical persistence on the part of the teacher. It re- 
quires the whole of cultured men and women. Half- 
heartedness never aroused a sleepy pupil. 

Association — Recall. — We recall only what is held 
in memory by association. Ideas are always associat- 
ed. An isolated idea cannot remain in the mind, 
hence the association of ideas is a condition of mem- 
ory. Memory depends chiefly on apprehended simi- 
larities. A little thinking will make this important, 
psychic fact clear. That is, introspection shows that 
' ' Present states tend to revive their like among pre- 
viously recurring states." As memory is not a special 
faculty and depends for its existence on apprehended 
similarities, occasionally on the association of ideas by 
contiguity or by contrast, it follows that the greater 
the number of similar points between the newly ap- 
prehended idea and the group of apperceiving ideas, 
the more readily will the new ideas be assimilated and 
the more easily recalled. This statement is a self- 
evident truth and suggests that the teacher should 
strive to associate a new lesson or truth with those 
facts already in the pupil's mind, by showing the pu- 
pil how much the new lesson or truth is like the last 
lesson or an old truth. Eead Apperception, Chap- 
ter VII also A Pot of Green Feathers. 

Memory — Image. — It is a well-established fact 
that nothing is remembered which is not associated 



MEMOBY 145 

with what is in the mind. The fact must have some 
point of association or it will not stick. Memory is a 
natural outgrowth of perception. In perception the 
senses do not form the percept alone, but are aided 
by what can be brought to bear of past experiences. 
In the perception of any object, as a horse, there are 
involved all the perceptions which one has had of 
other horses. That is, every perception of an object 
is modified by every previous perception of similar 
objects. Memory thus enters into perception, yet 
depends on it. Memory, like perception, is a process 
of construction. 

Memory recalls past experiences; hence memory 
images are wholly ideal. "The object of memory 
does not exist as a thing in space, but only as a men- 
tal image." The apple which I see is one really in 
space in the present ; the apple which I saw yesterday 
exists only in the form of an image in my mind. 
The perceived apple is a solid, real, tangible apple ; 
the remembered apple has no such properties ; it is 
wholly an ideal apple. "The memory of the color 
red is not red itself, nor is the memory of the odor of 
a rose fragrant. It is thus seen that memory extends 
knowledge only one step beyond perception; that 
perception deals with real objects, which exist in 
space, and that memory deals with ideal objects, 
objects which are wholly mental products." 



146 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEAOHEBS 

Image — Percept. — An image is the mind's copy 
of a percept and does not depend directly on time 
and space. An image is a percept reproduced by 
memory. The difference between a percept and an 
image is the difference between the impression made 
on the mind by the presence of an object and the 
mind's picture of it when the object is absent. The 
value of the image depends on the distinctness of 
the percept. However distinct and complete the per- 
cept, the image is always less distinct and complete. 
As the copy of a photograph is not as distinct as the 
original, so the image is not as distinct as the per- 
cept. The chief merit or excellence of an image con- 
sists in its distinctness or clearness. Percepts and 
images are psychical objects; boys and books are 
physical objects. The former are seen by the mind, 
the latter, by the eye. 

In what way does this discussion of the differences 
between a percept and an image interest the young 
teacher? In what way can he use the knowledge he 
has acquired by comprehending how percepts and 
images are formed and the difference between a per- 
cept and an image? The answers are obvious : First, 
the teacher must have definite ideas in regard to the 
results of mental operations. Second, the discussion 
will lead the young teacher to see the dependence of 
the image-making power of the mind on the per- 



ME MOBY 147 

ceptive power, and impress on him the dependence of 
one mental act on another. It will also help him to 
see that the images of memory are weaker than per- 
cepts ; that repeated perceptions are required to pre- 
vent the memory image from fading out entirely ; that 
reviews are necessary in school studies. Percepts, 
though the product of the most elementary proc- 
esses of mental growth, supply the material for the 
higher processes of thought. 

Clearly developed percepts make definite images 
possible. Only distinct images aid in acquiring new 
knowledge, because new objects and new thoughts are 
interpreted in only one way, through the appercep- 
tive power of the impressions already in the mind. 
Clearly developed percepts aid in forming prompt 
and reliable judgments. Only distinct percepts assure 
clear memory pictures. This universal, mental fact 
should ever be present with all who seek to train the 
minds of the young. The aim of school training is 
mental power, not text-book facts. The mind of the 
pupil that has been drugged and deadened by the 
mechanical recitation of text-book facts becomes a 
passive receptacle for all time. Parents and teachers 
are chiefly responsible for the passive, mental condi- 
tion of the masses. 

Perception — Recollection. — The perception of an 
object and the recollection of it are mental states dif- 



148 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

ering widely in kind. The perception of an object is 
attended by sensation ; the recollection of it is not at- 
tended by sensation. Perception relates to a present 
external object; recollection relates to an object once 
present in consciousness, but which is no longer pres- 
ent. Perception is a vivid state of consciousness ; 
recollection is a faint state of consciousness ; one is 
real, the other ideal. The character of the ideal de- 
pends upon the character of the real. That is, the 
trustworthiness of the recollection depends on the ad- 
equacy of the perception. (Teacher will explain.) 

Memory — Interest. — In reviewing our own lives 
we find that the experiences and events which we can 
most readily recall are those experiences and events 
which interested us or in which we had a social or 
a financial interest. Experience emphatically asserts 
that the things we remember are those things which 
interested us. Old men will tell you that they can 
recall the most important scenes and events of their 
youths more readily and completely than those of 
their later years. This is true because the part they 
took in their earlier events was accompanied by more 
interest and feeling. The will may introduce the 
mind to an object, but it cannot force a permanent 
attachment between them. No teacher ever suc- 
ceeded in compelling a young person to concentrate 
his mind on an uninteresting subject. Voluntary at- 



MEMOBY 149 

tention is controlled by interest. No teacher can 
tell another just how to secure the interested attention 
of a class or of one pupil. 

Memory — Suggestion. — An image which has been 
well stamped on the mind may be reproduced by any- 
thing present in the mind which suggests the image. 
What then is suggestion as used in mental science ? 
A suggestion is any impression which is consciously 
received through any of the senses. The sight of a 
place may remind one of a public building located 
there. The mention of a person's name may bring 
to mind his features. The predisposition of the 
mind to live over again vivid experiences needs only a 
slight reminder to reproduce them. But the predis- 
position is seldom sufficient to recall the past ; there 
must be an exciting cause also, a suggestion. Prob- 
ably more of the past could be recalled by sugges- 
tion if the original experiences had been thoroughly 
stamped on the mind. The reason why most of our 
past lives is seemingly forgotten is due to the fact 
that there is nothing in the present to suggest the re- 
vival of the experiences. 

The sight of a face which resembles a friend's is 
sufficient cause to reproduce the image of the friend's 
face. The humming of a tune is often sufficient 
cause to start one to singing his favorite song or 
hymn. The scent of a bottle of perfume may recall 



150 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

the scent of a similar perfume. The mention of a 
mountain to the writer always recalls the image of 
Mt. Renier. A remark often suggests something 
heard long ago. Often in conversation a chance 
word or thought will start a whole train of associated 
ideas. The surrender of Cornwallis is suggested by 
mentioning Yorktown ; the surrender of Bonaparte by 
mentioning Waterloo. A little thinking will convince 
the teacher that memory depends largely on sugges- 
tion. "When an impression has been well fixed in 
the mind there remains a pre-disposition or tendency 
to reproduce it under the form of an image. The de- 
gree of facility with which we recall any object al- 
ways depends in part on the strength of this pre- 
disposition. Nevertheless, this pre-disposition will 
not in ordinary cases suffice in itself to effect a re- 
storation after a certain time has elapsed. There is 
needed further something present to the mind to sug- 
gest the image or remind us of the event or object." 
(The teacher will give two other original examples, 
showing that ideas suggest ideas. The class will give 
three original illustrations showing the power and 
value of suggestion.) 

Depth of Impression. — The depth of an impression 
depends on the force of the stimulus, the attention 
given it, and the time used in stamping it on the brain. 
Force, time, and attention are important factors in 



MEMOBT 151 

the acquisition and development of percepts. The 
inattentive or passively attentive pupil often forgets, 
because the impressions, if any, were not sufficiently 
forcible to make a lasting impression on the mind. 
It is evident that the more forcible the impression, 
the greater its depth. " The depth of an impression 
depends largely on the way in which the mind reacts 
on the impression." The reaction depends on inter- 
est, and interest depends on attention. It is impossi- 
ble to acquire lasting impressions without both inter- 
est and attention. What one remembers is what 
interested him when the percept was acquired. This 
statement is psychology applied; it is not a " how," 
but a general principle. It is why percepts, acquired 
in childhood, are readily revived in old age. Extra- 
ordinary impressions act on the mind by reason of 
their unusual character or force. Ordinary experi- 
ences are fixed only by repetition, the number of rep- 
etitions required depending on the method of the 
teacher and the attention of the pupil. 

Cultivation of Memory. — The cultivation of the 
memory has often been attempted by using various 
devices. Most of these devices are worthless. Ee- 
tention is conditioned by the character of the sense 
impressions, for they are the raw material on which 
the mind does its work. It is evident that the deeper 
the impression made on the mind the longer the im- 



152 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

pression will be retained. This fact is a practical 
schoolroom fact. If one is thorough in his methods 
of acquiring knowledge he is apt to have a tenacious 
memory. One's mental habits, one's method of 
learning things, usually determines the retentive 
power of his mind. Many persons sigh over a weak 
memory when they should grieve over a weak will. 
The mind cannot retain and reproduce what was 
never really perceived. Memory is improved, not by 
devices, but by associating ideas, by correct, habitual 
methods of recording facts. 

Comparye says : ' ' The law that associates ideas 
is the one important law to be observed in cultivating 
memory. It shows that our recollections are con- 
nected with one another ; that their connection fixes 
them in the mind ; and that, once associated by any 
bond whatever, the appearance of one suffices to 
evoke the other. In the culture of the memory the 
teacher will then take advantage of the association of 
ideas and of its different principles — some of them 
accidental and exterior, like contiguity in time and 
space ; others intrinsical and logical, like the relation 
of cause and effect. The more relations that are es- 
tablished among the items of knowledge, the greater 
will be the association of ideas and the more active 
and tenacious the memory." 

Understanding Essential. — The mind has a stronger 



MEMORY 153 

tendency to retain what it thoroughly understands 
than it has to retain what it does not understand. 
Verbal memory is most dependent on the understand- 
ing. The retention of a quotation depends largely 
on a full comprehension of its meaning. Understand- 
ing is the mother of interest ; interest is the mother 
of feeling; both interest and feeling aid retention. 
Understanding relates concepts, establishes associa- 
tions. To understand a thing is to know its relation 
to other things. No fact has value or interest except 
in its relation to other facts. The mind is not a 
junkshop where the teacher who believes that cram- 
ming is teaching can store away isolated facts without 
reference to their relation to the past experiences of 
the pupil. 

Experience proves that a mental faculty can be im- 
proved only by using it. Verbal memory is culti- 
vated by memorizing and reciting choice selections. 
The exact language of the authors should be repeated. 
Such exercises not only cultivate memory ; they train 
the mind to habits of voluntary attention, develop 
will-power, and hold in memory beautiful thoughts. 
Care should be taken that the memory is not overtaxed 
or drawn on to the point of fatigue. Any faculty of 
the mind, like any function of the body, is weakened 
by overworking it. The pupil should begin the task 
of cultivating his verbal memory by memorizing 



154 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

in the exact language of the authors short but com- 
plete paragraphs and poems. Why, you ask, in the 
exact language of the authors? A quotation should be 
a quotation — nothing more, nothing less. The force 
and beauty of Longfellow's "Psalm of Life," Lin- 
coln's " Gettysburg Speech," Emerson's " Self -Reli- 
ance," would be weakened and marred by any change 
in the language or in the arrangement of the text. 

Where sound methods of instruction are used 
memory needs little or no special training. If the 
method of the teacher is in accord with the well- 
established laws of mental development the memory 
will receive its due share of attention. Memory, like 
muscle, is developed and strengthened by using it. 
Pupils who cannot recollect should be required to 
learn and recite complete selections of several stanzas 
or paragraphs. Only the choicest literature should be 
selected. Selections containing great thoughts, vigor- 
ously expressed, are not only most readily memorized 
but are most easily retained. The " Psalm of Life," 
or the " Nineteenth Psalm," is better mental food for 
a pupil in the grammar grades than the rule for the 
reduction of complex fractions, or the rule for find- 
ing the square root of a number. 

Experience shows that the mind soon drops minor 
facts and the unimportant detail of events. This 
natural tendency of the mind carries with it a sugges- 



ME MOBY 155 

tion for teachers. Emphasize only the essential facts 
and principles. The common schools should teach 
only what the pupil should know, and leave excep- 
tions and the detail of events to his riper years. The 
minor facts and detail cling to the important facts 
and often survive by sufferance. In the struggle for 
existence the weaker impressions, like the weaker 
men in business, go to the wall — that is, they pass 
out of consciousness forever. This is an agreeable 
truth, for many facts and experiences should be for- 
gotten that we may more earnestly consider the stern 
realities of life. A discouraging companion is he 
whose mind is filled with the trifling occurrences of 
the day, and who can talk flippantly on all subjects. 
We should be thankful to Providence that our minds 
cannot recall the sidewalk scenes of the day and the 
unmeaning gossip of the hour. 

I would not be misunderstood in regard to memory 
training. Cramming and memory training are widely 
different in their effects on the mind. Cramming 
weakens the mind by loading it with unrelated facts ; 
training strengthens the mind by calling into use the 
laws of association. The value of a retentive, trust- 
worthy memory is incalculable. It is the abuse of 
memory in our cram methods of instruction that has 
given memory a doubtful place in the new education. 
In requiring pupils to memorize selections, the teacher 



156 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

should use his best judgment in selecting the choicest 
gems of literature, prose and verse. What the pupil 
is required to memorize should be strong intellectually 
and morally — matter that will train the memory and 
cultivate the heart. 

Memory — Habit. — Every mental act leaves or 
should leave a trace behind it which constitutes a dis- 
position to perform the same kind of action again. 
The strength of this disposition depends on the char- 
acter of the original act. If the first act was charac- 
terized by attention, interest, and purpose, the dispo- 
sition to live over that experience, if it was a pleasant 
and profitable one, will be almost irresistable. This 
natural tendency of the mind to recall, to live over 
again re-presentatively, pleasant and profitable past 
experiences strengthens the retentive power of the 
mind, enriches the present, and stimulates mental 
activity. But, if the first mental act of any kind is a 
passive, mechanical one there will be little or no dis- 
position to repeat it. 

The pupil must be fully awake during the recita- 
tion if he would profit by the exercise. The teacher 
also must be alert. Fitch says: " What every good 
teacher greatly needs is a quick eye and a comprehen- 
sive glance, which will take in the whole class at one 
view, or travel instantly from one part of it to the 
other. He should be able to detect the first rising of 



MEMORY 157 

disorder, and the first symptoms of weariness, in an 
instant, and to apply a remedy to it the next instant. 
It is from want of promptitude in noticing the little 
beginnings of inattention that our classes so often get 
disorderly and tired. I recommend every one who 
wants to be a good teacher, therefore, to cultivate in 
himself the habit of sharpness and watchfulness. He 
should so train himself that he shall become pecu- 
liarly sensitive about little signs of inattention. It 
ought to make him uncomfortable to see one child's 
eye averted, or one proof that the thoughts of the 
class are straying from the subject. The surest way 
to increase inattention is to seem unconscious of it, or 
to allow it to pass unnoticed." 

The natural order of mental development carries 
with it, step by step, the surest means of acquiring 
knowledge and retaining it. The memory is culti- 
vated by the association of clear concepts ; clear con- 
cepts depend on clear percepts. Memory is kept 
trustworthy by reinvigorating the fading concepts, by 
frequent perceptions of the same object or relation. 
This mental fact says to every teacher two things : 
Be thorough and review. See that the pupil acquires 
a clear idea of the subject, then keep him from for- 
getting it by reviewing it. 

James says: "The popular idea that the memory, 
in the sense of a general elementary faculty, can be 



158 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

improved by training, is a great mistake. Your mem- 
ory for facts of a certain class can be improved very 
much by training in that class of facts, because the 
incoming new fact will then find all sorts of ano- 
logues and associates already there, and these will 
keep it liable to recall. But other kinds of facts will 
reap none of that benefit. . . . Learning poetry 
by heart will make it easier to learn and remember 
other poetry, but nothing else ; and so of dates, and 
so of history and geography. Constant exercise in 
verbal memorizing must still be an indispensable fea- 
ture in all sound education. Nothing is more deplora- 
ble than an inarticulate and helpless sort of mind that 
is reminded by everything of some quotation, case, or 
anecdote, which it cannot now exactly recollect. 
Nothing, on the other hand, is more convenient to its 
possessor or more delightful to his comrades than a 
mind able in telling a story to give the exact words of 
the dialogue or to furnish a quotation accurate and 
complete." 

Every-day experiences fully illustrate the value of 
attention in acquiring lasting percepts. Passing 
down the street, I meet an acquaintance walking 
with a gentleman I do not know. I stop a moment 
to greet my acquaintance, who introduces me to his 
friend. I merely glance at the stranger's face and 
pass on. The next day I meet the new acquaintance, 



MEMOBY 159 

but I do not recognize him. Why not? Because I 
did not see him yesterday. I did not attend. I did 
not acquire a distinct percept. The attention, if the 
glance I gave him can be called attention, was so 
characterless that it did not leave even the shadow of 
an impression. So it is with an inattentive pupil in 
school. In a word, the training value of a mental act 
depends in a very large measure on the kind of atten- 
tion given the act. 

Teacher — The Essential. — When the principal 
thing about a teacher is purpose he is greater than all 
methods. When his very soul is impacted into his 
teaching he is indeed a moral as well as an intellectual 
leader. In the work of the schools the essential is 
not text-books, nor text-book facts, but earnest, cap- 
able men and women teachers. The real influence in 
education is not the fact taught, but the inspiration 
which accompanies its teaching. The true teacher 
seeks, not to make the pupils recite, but to make 
them think. Thinking is the beginning of wisdom. 
One may theorize, and speculate, and not become 
better or wiser. A teacher needs the power to will 
and the courage to do. If he would inspire and 
direct he must act. If he would free others he must 
first free himself. If he would have self-reliant pu- 
pils he must be self-reliant. Self -trust inspires, and 
liberates, and is contagious. 



160 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

TEST QUESTIONS ON THE CHAPTER. 

1. Define memory and illustrate what is meant by the re- 
vival of a past experience. 

2. What is meant by retention? By reproduction? 

3. On what special laws does memory depend? 

4. What effect has time on impressions? Illustrate. 

5. How may an impression be kept from fading out? 

6. Why has a feeble impression little or no value? 

7. What kind of experience is most surely retained and 
most readily revived? Give two illustrations. 

8. Give three original illustrations to show that memory 
depends on suggestion. 

9. In what respect is the human brain and the cylinder 
of a phonograph supposed to be similar? 

.,. 10. Why is it necessary for Miss Smith to review her classes 
oftener than Miss Jones? 

11. Why should teachers emphasize important principles 
and events? 

12. On what does the character of presentative knowledge 
chiefly depend? Illustrate. 

13. On what does the character of representative knowledge 
depend? Illustrate. 

14. What determines the character of mental operations? 

15. What dependence do you see between perception and 
presentative knowledge? Illustrate. 

16. What relation do you see between perception and re- 
tention? Illustrate. 

17. What determines the character of the revived percept? 

18. Why should a quotation be given in the exact language 
of the author? 



CHAPTER V 
IMAGINATION 

In the preceding chapter we learned that memory 
is a revival of past experiences ; that it is a picture- 
forming process ; that revived percepts are called im- 
ages ; that the images are more or less accurate pic- 
tures of objects and experiences which were once in 
consciousness. Imagination is also a picture-making 
process. The difference between the pictures repro- 
duced by memory and those constructed by imagina- 
tion should be clearly seen by the student if he would 
know wherein imagination differs from memory. The 
difference may be briefly stated. Memory revives 
percepts; imagination reconstructs the images. In 
memory past experiences are seen by the mind in the 
same order in which they were perceived ; in imagina- 
tion the mind without regard to the order of percep- 
tion fixes the order and constructs the ideal picture. 

In the study of perception we learned that it is a 
combining process, that it combines into wholes the 
sensations which reach the mind through the sensory 
nerves. Next we learned that memory is of things, 
of individual things, once in consciousness. We are 
161 



162 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

now to learn about constructive imagination. We are 
to learn that it is limited to the material, supplied by 
the senses, held in memory, and reproduced in the 
form of images. Imagination creates ideal pictures; 
but it does not create the material used in construct- 
ing the pictures. It uses the material, however, to 
please itself. In this special sense it is creative, and 
only in this special sense. 

From what has been stated it is seen that the ex- 
cellence of ideal pictures depends on the character of 
the real pictures, on the character of the images 
which form the basis of the ideal pictures. (The 
teacher will explain why imagination is indebted to 
memory for its material. The pupils will explain 
why percepts and images are of individual things; 
also why images are less distinct than percepts. The 
teacher will explain and illustrate why distinct per- 
cepts are more valuable than indistinct ones.) 

An example will best illustrate how imagination 
constructs its ideals, and in what it differs from mem- 
ory. My pupils went to the country to see a hill in 
the hope that seeing one would enable them to im- 
agine the appearance of a mountain. They saw a 
hill. They made a note of its shape, of its soil, of 
its vegetation, of the time required to climb from its 
base to its summit. The next day I required the pu- 
pils to give in writing a description of the hill. Step 



IMA am A TION 163 

by step memory reproduced the percepts. The mem- 
ory picture of the hill was distinct and accurate, for 
the percepts were distinct and accurate. The pupils 
learned years ago that a mountain is a high hill, so 
high that it takes hours to climb to its top ; so high 
that its top is covered with snow all the year ; so high 
that clouds seem to rest on its summit ; so high that 
its summit is bare of vegetation. The pupils should 
now have a fairly correct picture of a mountain. 
With the image of a hill and the description of a 
mountain, imagination can easily construct a moun- 
tain. (The class will construct an ideal picture.) 

Visit Central Park, New York City. Carefully 
notice what you see there. Note the arrangement of 
the objects, a carriage road, a foot-path ascending a 
steep hill, a fountain, a rose-bush, a negro girl look- 
ing into the running stream, a large black dog lying 
at the foot of the marble statute of Bonaparte. Now 
think about what you saw there. Eeproduce the per- 
cepts. You can rearrange the images, and construct 
an ideal picture of a park. In constructing the ideal 
picture you will start out with a hazy notion of the 
picture you want to make. You will therefore search 
among your other images for the kind of images you 
need to form an ideal picture. You are privileged to 
accept or to reject the images you select from other 
experiences because the picture you are constructing 



164 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

is wholly ideal; it is not like any other picture you 
ever saw. In doing this you are exercising the con- 
structive imagination. The elements of your ideal 
picture, however, are images. 

Note that the image of the hill is a copy of the re- 
vived percepts of the hill and that the imaginary 
mountain is based on these images. These images 
have been modified, transformed, and recombined. 
A little thinking makes it clear that the pupils could 
not have constructed the imaginary mountain if they 
had not first seen a hill, and knew the relations that 
exist between hills and mountains. You will also 
note that the ideal picture of the park scene is in the 
main a modified view of what was perceived, a rear- 
rangement of the objects seen in the park with such 
added features as were needed to construct an ideal 
picture. We may now define imagination: 1. 
"Imagination is the process of making images." 

2. "Imagination is the mind's power of making 
images without the present help of the senses." 

3. " Imagination is the power of representing a 
mental product as an image." It is generally be- 
lieved that imagination is the most difiicult faculty to 
define and describe. 

Nature of Imagination. — The definitions of imag- 
ination show that it resembles both perception and 
memory in one important particular, viz. : its product 



IMAGINATION 165 

is always particular ; it is an idea of this or that ob- 
ject, person, or event. It is one of distinct existence. 
Perception and memory refer to objects and events ; 
imagination is an idea of objects and events. Sully 
says: " Under the stimulus of emotion, such as the 
love of the marvelous or the beautiful, imagination is 
wont to rise above the ordinary level of experience, 
and to picture objects, circumstances, and events sur- 
passing those of every-day life. The ideal creations 
of the imagination are thus apt to transcend the re- 
gion of sober fact. The child's fairyland and the 
world of romance, which the poet and the novelist 
create for us, are fairer, more wonderful, and excit- 
ing than the domain of real experience." 

Process of Imagination. — Imagination involves 
two distinctly separate processes, the isolating pro- 
cess, the process which omits certain elements of the 
revived percept and retains other elements, and the 
combining process, the process which combines parts 
or wholes of other revived percepts with the part of 
the first percept selected as the basis of the ideal. 
That is, before imagination can construct an ideal it 
must first disassociate the elements of the real, the 
elements combined by perception. Memory is lim- 
ited by perception, by what is actually presented to 
consciousness in time and space. The ideal, though 
constructed out of the material supplied by percep- 



166 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

tion, is not a copy, but wholly an ideal, formed by 
using the disassociated elements of one or of several 
distinctly different percepts. 

A few illustrations of the different kinds of imagina- 
tive products will make the meaning of the foregoing 
paragraph clear. Imagination is constructive; it is 
creative only in the sense that it creates new objects 
out of old material. Imagination can construct an al- 
most literal image of an object. It can construct the 
image of a house with a view to drawing it exactly. 
It can construct an image out of the parts of two or 
more concrete objects. It can form single combina- 
tions of separated elements. "The Grecian joined 
the head and trunk of a man to the body of a horse, 
and thereby gave us the Centaur. To the body of a 
dog imagination added three heads, and put snakes in 
place of hair, thus fashioning Cerberus, the guardian 
dog of Hades." 

Imagination can diminish or enlarge existing ob- 
jects. Dean Swift illustrates this fact. In writing 
about his voyage to Lilliput in Gulliver's Travels, 
he says : ' ' The Lilliputians needed ladders to climb 
upon the body of Gulliver when he was lying down, 
although he was a man of ordinary size." The giant 
Atlas carried the world upon his shoulder. The Norse 
imagination made the Midgard serpent so large that it 
encircled the earth. 



IMAGINATION 167 

Kinds of Objects. — There are two kinds of objects, 
the real and the ideal. The real object is one that is 
brought into consciousness through the senses; it 
truly exists in time and space. The ideal object is 
one constructed by the mind from elements selected 
from past perceptions. In one sense both kinds of 
objects are real, differing in their origin. The ideal 
object is as real to the self that constructs it as the 
real object to the self in perception. It is important 
to bear in mind the fact that imagination is condi- 
tional on memory, that memory is one of its limita- 
tions. The images of imagination are combinations 
of partial experiences given by memory, only the 
combination being new. 

Neither memory nor imagination creates. This 
fact the pupil should understand. Memory repro- 
duces, as wholes, the percepts formed by combining 
sensations. That is, the reproduced percepts are 
copies of the original percepts. Imagination takes 
the whole or any element of a percept and recon- 
structs it. It does not create the element. In no 
way is it possible to create new material without the 
aid of the senses. The teacher who fully under- 
stands this fundamental fact should never lose sight 
of it in instruction. He should lead his pupils to 
recognize it. It is clearly the teacher's duty to im- 
press on his pupils the importance of acquiring 



1G8 PSYCHOLOGY FOE TEACHEBS 

knowledge in the right way. This he can do in all 
grades above the sixth without delivering lectures on 
psychology or by using terms that need translation. 
Most of all, however, he should be thoroughly con- 
vinced that his own method of presenting the subject 
is a sound one. 

As memory is the picturing of objects and events 
in what are called images, it is a form of imagination. 
Memory is sometimes called reproductive imagination. 
Imagination as treated in this chapter is more than 
reproductive ; it is constructive. In constructive im- 
agination memory-images are modified and recom- 
bined. The images of memory are primary or radical 
images, the images of objects; the images of imagi- 
nation are secondary or derivative images, the images 
of ideas, of ideal objects. 

The imagination plays an important part in all 
forms of mental activity. Every complete percept is 
in part the work of the imagination. This statement 
is clearly true of all percepts formed through the 
sense of sight when all parts of the object cannot be 
seen at once. One illustration will suffice. I see 
only one side of the apple on my desk ; the other side 
of the apple must be seen through the eye of the im- 
agination to complete the perception. The images of 
memory are complex products in which perception is 
aided by imagination. " Imagination is a relating 



IMAGINATION' 169 

activity of the mind, and things are truly known only 
in their relations. Atoms and molecules are not visi- 
ble; the correlation of forces cannot be seen; the 
solar system as a whole is not presented to the senses ; 
geological periods can be pictured only in succession. 
History is not a collection of names and dates, but a 
panorama of persons and events." Imagination sees 
and relates these invisible forces and facts. 

Kinds of Imagination. — There are two principal 
kinds of imagination: Constructive imagination and 
aesthetic imagination. The most important of these 
is constructive imagination. 

Constructive Imagination. — This form of imagina- 
tion is always active in the acquisition of knowledge. 
It is characterized by a definite purpose and a per- 
sistent effort to accomplish that purpose. Construct- 
ive imagination selects its material; hence the value 
of the imaginative picture depends on the number 
and quality of the images at its disposal. This form 
of imagination, having a definite picture in view, re- 
jects the images that do not suit the ideal. The ex- 
cellence of the constructed ideal depends on the 
strength of the reproductive faculty. Memory must 
restore the impressions of past experiences or we can- 
not picture a new scene or event. Here again is 
seen the universal fact that the value of a mental act 
depends on the character of the act. How could a 



170 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

child imagine an iceberg if he could not reproduce the 
image of the piece of ice he had seen? Imagination 
leans on memory; memory, on perception; percep- 
tion, on attention. (The teacher will illustrate these 
important facts.) 

The constructive imagination is involved in correct 
methods of instruction. It enlarges and completes 
every perception ; it stimulates thinking ; it enriches 
the recitation by carrying the pupil into the realm of 
the ideal. The products of the constructive imagina- 
tion measure the material progress of the world. 
Primeval man imagined that the skin and fur of some 
animals would protect him from the cold of winter. 
The will made the image a reality. Step by step the 
constructive imagination has given us the chimney, 
the stove, the locomotive engine, the sewing machine, 
the bicycle, and the automobile. As imagination is 
limited to memory for material, it follows that its 
product is limited to the dominant perceptions, to 
clear-cut images. In this fact the thinking teacher 
will see the value of interest, attention, concentration, 
enthusiasm, and purpose on the part of the pupil 
during the recitation. 

The constructive imagination is not only the in- 
ventor of labor-saving machinery, and of ornamental 
products, it is also the promoter and guardian of 
public and private morals. The real is so imperfect 



IMAGINATION 171 

that I fear there would be comparatively few mar- 
riages, if the mind did not have the power to recon- 
struct the memory image, to leave out the objectional 
features and magnify the desirable ones. This would 
be a plain, humdrum world indeed if the imagina- 
tion did not have the power to take individual ele- 
ments, revived by memory, and combine them into 
new forms. Goethe says: "There is a moment in 
his life when a young man can see no blemish in the 
lady he loves, and no fault in the author he admires. 
A man in love may think that his Angelina sings di- 
vinely sweet, though her voice is like a crow's. He 
interprets the impressions which he receives according 
to previously formed impressions." 

Prof. James begins his chapter on imagination as 
follows: "Imagination, what it is. Sensations, once 
experienced, modify the nervous organism, so that 
copies of them again arise in the mind after the origi- 
nal outward stimulus is gone. No mental copy, how- 
ever, can arise in the mind which has never been di- 
rectly excited from without. The blind may dream 
of sights, the [deaf of sounds, for years after they 
have lost their vision or hearing ; but the man born 
blind can never have a mental vision, nor the man 
born deaf can never be made to imagine what sound 
is like. The originals of them all must have been 
given from without." The foregoing extract shows 



172 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

that this distinguished philosopher sees clearly the re- 
lation, and the dependence of the highest intellectual 
process upon sensation, and perception, the only 
sources which supply the raw materials of knowledge. 

Nothing can be permanently impressed on the mind 
without using the constructive imagination. Dry, 
disconnected memory facts are meaningless; they 
cannot be used in the construction of images. The 
cram method of teaching geography fully illustrates 
and verifies these statements. As this subject is 
taught in many schools the pupil stores away for use 
on examination day the names of places, of rivers, 
and of mountains given on the maps, and the teacher 
is content in the belief that the pupil is studying 
geography. The victim of the method remains igno- 
rant of his condition, until he is called on to describe 
a place or country, and to give reasons for the condi- 
tion of the people and their resources. The mere 
ability to name the largest country, the most popu- 
lous city, the highest mountain, and the largest river 
does not train perception, memory, or imagination. 
Catechism geography has little value, intellectual or 
moral. It does not reach the head or the heart. 

iEsthetic Imagination. — This form of imagina- 
tion is accompanied by feeling or emotion and aims at 
immediate enjoyment. Feeling enters into all acts of 
the imagination ; it distinguishes this form of imagi • 



IMAGINATION 173 

nation from constructive imagination. Feeling gives a 
peculiar vividness to the imaginative product. Every 
one in some sense appreciates the true, the beautiful, 
and the good. Parents and teachers should see that 
children do not come into contact with the low and 
the vicious through improper associations or by read- 
ing vulgar literature. Most parents and teachers un- 
dervalue the idealizing power of children in the lower 
grades. As association plays an important part in 
determining the ideals of the young, children should 
not be permitted to associate with persons, old or 
young, who use profane or obscene language or whose 
physical habits are questionable. The young should 
not be permitted to feed on the cheap events de- 
scribed in the five cent novels, and the improbable 
and miraculous events of history. 

Next in influence to association is the printed page. 
Halleck says : ' ' The reading of too much fiction is 
dangerous. The impossible stories that have been 
sown broadcast over the land have wrecked many a 
young life. From their teaching young persons have 
imagined that they could dream themselves into suc- 
cess. It has been well said that even novels of the 
better class are sweets, and should form no greater 
proportion of our reading than do sweets of our diet." 
The young should never allow themselves to build 
any imaginative castle, unless they are willing by hard 



174 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

effort to try to make that castle a reality. They must 
be willing to take off their coats, go into the quarries 
of life, chisel out the blocks of stone, and build them 
with much toil into the castle walls. If castle build- 
ing is the formation of an ideal, which by effort you 
are determined to attain, then all will be well. Put 
foundations under your ideal castles. 

Imagination — Memory. — While an object of per- 
ception seems to be a mere thing, wholly real, a little 
thinking shows that the imagination aided the senses 
in developing it. In memory the images supplied 
from previous experiences are set free and given an 
independent existence. The memory of the steam- 
ship St. Louis is very different from the perception 
of the ship. The perception of the ship is the per- 
ception of a thing really there ; the memory of the 
ship is an idea in the mind. Introspection shows 
that imagination is active in the construction of the 
image ship and in holding the idea ship in the mind. 
Memory is limited by perception to space and time ; 
imagination is not directly limited to space and time ; 
hence it is a broader power than memory. Memory 
works on the images formed by the laws of associa- 
tion; imagination begins its work by disassociating 
the elements associated or combined in perception. 
(The class will illustrate.) 

Memory is revival of a past experience. Imagina- 



IMAGINATION 175 

tion is the representation of an ideal object. The 
objects of memory are facts of experience ; the ob- 
jects of imagination may or may not be facts of expe- 
rience. Memory is reproductive; imagination is con- 
structive. Memory is mediate knowledge of the 
past ; imagination is mediate knowledge of the past, 
present, or future. The sphere of memory is finite ; 
the sphere of imagination is infinite. In imagination 
the mind transgresses the bounds of the real, and 
forms for itself objects in the boundless unreal. 
However, there are limits to the excursive power of 
the imagination. Although it disregards experience 
it cannot transgress the bounds of experience. Im- 
agination can transform the raw material of knowl- 
edge into wonderful forms, but the material must be 
supplied by perception. The imagination may fash- 
ion a disorderly pile of brick into a beautiful house, 
or a shapeless mass of steel into watch springs, but 
the brick and steel must first be present to the senses. 
The common impression that imagination can create 
something out of nothing is erroneous. 

In memory past experiences are represented with 
great fidelity ; in imagination the mind represents an 
ideal as an image. Imagination takes the memory 
image and creates a new image differing much or 
little from the memory image. Imagination creates 
an image by using an idea as the material to work 



176 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

on ; memory creates an image by using the percept as 
the material to work on. In constructing historical 
and fictitious events imagination is a substitute for 
perception. Shakespeare says : 

" And as imagination bodies forth 
The form of things unknown, the poet's pen 
Turns them to shape, and gives to airy nothing 
A local habitation and a name." 

It is clear that the value of images constructed by 
imagination depends on the character of the memory 
images, and that the character of the memory images 
depends on perception. The structure can never be 
better than the material used in constructing it. 
Vague and feeble memory images cannot yield dis- 
tinct and strong ideal images. A vigorous and 
healthy imagination is the product of distinct percep- 
tions and a trained memory. These fundamental 
facts are worthy of due consideration by the young 
teacher. They are clearly within his comprehension, 
and should be applied in every recitation. The laws 
governing mental development are not mere specula- 
tions ; they are demonstrable facts which every teacher 
should know. The teacher must study mind in order 
to deal with it intelligently. Mental activity, as exper- 
iments prove, is subject to and governed by laws, a 
knowledge of which constitutes the essential part of 
a teacher's qualifications. 



IMAGINATION 177 

Imagination — Acquisition. — The expansion of 
knowledge beyond perception involves imaginative 
activity. Learning is not simply reproduction ; it is 
reproduction modified by the constructive power of 
imagination. Imagination must give content to mem- 
ory images. The meaning of words is realized only 
when the imagination frames clear and distinct pic- 
tures of the objects described. The word boy has no 
meaning to one whose mind does not frame the image 
boy. The word desert has no meaning to the pupil 
whose imagination does not image a plain, covered 
with sand. In following the description of an object 
or event the child understands only to the extent that 
his imagination fills the words with meaning. It is 
sheer nonsense for a teacher to attempt to give in- 
struction in a language which his pupils do not under- 
stand. It is the teacher's duty to know that his 
pupils understand the meaning of every term used 
in the statement of principles and definitions. 

The beauty, the power, and the intellectual value 
of imagination are best seen in the writings of the cul- 
tured. Note the following description of the heavens 
by Edward Everett: "I had occasion, a few weeks 
since, to take the early morning train from Providence 
to Boston, and for this purpose rose at two o'clock in 
the morning. Everything around was wrapped in 
darkness and hushed in silence, broken only by what 



178 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

seemed at that hour the unearthly clank and rush of 
the train. It was a mild, serene, midsummer's 
night, — the winds were whist. The moon, then in 
her last quarter, had just risen, and the stars shone 
with a spectral luster but little affected by her pres- 
ence. Jupiter, two hours high, was the herald of the 
day; the Pleiades, just above the horizon, shed their 
sweet influence in the east. . . . Such was the 
glorious spectacle as I entered the train. As we 
proceeded the timid approach of twilight became 
more perceptible ; the intense blue of the sky began 
to soften; the smaller stars, like little children, were 
first to rest; the sister beams of the Pleiades soon 
melted together ; but the bright constellations of the 
west and north remained unchanged. Steadily the 
wondrous transfiguration went on. Hands of angels, 
hidden from mortal eyes, shifted the scenery of the 
heavens ; the glories of night dissolved into the glo- 
ries of the dawn. The blue sky now turned more 
softly gray ; the great watch stars shut up their holy 
eyes; the east began to kindle." 

Imagination — Body. — We shall touch but briefly 
on the influence of the imagination on the physical 
system. It is a well-known fact that the health may 
be materially affected by the imagination. One may 
imagine himself sick and be sick, while he is enjo ying (°. v ) 
perfect health, or he may imagine himself well while 



IMAGINATION- 179 

he is in a critical condition. " Faith cures " are due 
to the work of the imagination on the physical sys- 
tem. A few " stock illustrations " will show conclu- 
sively that the imagination can affect the physical 
man. " The head of a family purchased some fresh 
meat with the intention of testing the power of the 
imagination on the senses. The meat was cooked and 
a member remarked that it would just suit a French- 
man, as it was so gamy and tender that it would not 
hang on the butcher's hook. Several at once per- 
ceived or imagined an unmistakably putrid taste, and 
one of the family, being unable to endure the odor, 
left the table." 

"There is a well-authenticated case of a butcher, 
who, while trying to hang up a piece of meat, slipped 
and was himself caught on the hook. When he was 
taken to a surgeon, the butcher said he was suffering 
so much that he could not endure the removal of his 
coat; the sleeve must be cut off. When this was 
done it was found that the hook had passed through 
his clothing close to the skin, but had not even 
scratched the skin." Again, " A man sentenced to 
be bled to death was blindfolded. A harmless in- 
cision was then made in his arm and tepid water fixed 
so as to run down it and drop with considerable noise 
into a basin. The attendants frequently commented 
on the flow of blood and the weakening pulse. The 



180 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

criminal's false idea of what was taking place was as 
powerful in its effect as the reality would have been, 
and he soon died." (The teacher will give an orig- 
inal example illustrating the power of imagination on 
the body. The class will also give two examples 
illustrating the power of mind over body.) 

Cultivation of Imagination. — As imagination can- 
not construct something out of nothing it gets its ma- 
terial from perception. Imagination can no more 
create a mental intake without material than a builder 
can construct a house without material. There is 
nothing miraculous in the images created by imagina- 
tion. It is a wonderful faculty, but not a miraculous 
creator. The formation of clear-cut images is the 
first essential in cultivating imagination. As the 
character of the memory image depends on percep- 
tion, so the character of the imaginary image depends 
on the character of the memory image. As only 
clear-cut and well-developed percepts can be repro- 
duced as memory images, so only clear-cut memory 
images can be used by imagination in constructing 
ideals. From the foregoing fundamental facts it is 
clear that the surest, shortest, and safest method of 
cultivating imagination is through perception. 

Accurate percepts are the only kind of percepts 
that yield clear-cut images ; hence they are essential 
to the right cultivation of both memory and imagina- 



IMAGINATION 181 

tion. The teacher who would train his pupils for in- 
tellectual power should never forget the dependence 
of the higher intellectual processes on the elements of 
knowledge, sensation and perception. In his beauti- 
ful description of the heavens Everett joined his pre- 
viously acquired knowledge of the starry world to his 
present perceptions of the same world, and his imagi- 
nation gave us a prose poem. Knowledge is power 
only when it can be applied in new ways under new 
conditions. (Class will select another prose poem.) 

Pictures. — Pupils should be required to interpret 
the stories found in their school readers by means of 
pictorial illustrations. This form of "busy work" 
would cultivate their imaginations and give the dry 
facts a permanent setting. It would train the eye, 
the hand, and the will. Children are full of imasdna- 
tive activity. They like to picture strange things, 
and endow their playthings with human attributes. 

Oral Description. — In the grades below the high 
school the pupils should be required to give clear, 
concise, oral descriptions of familiar objects. The 
exercise would show that most of the images are 
hazy. The hazy character of the images is usually 
due to imperfect perceptions. The exercise would 
throw the pupil on his own resources ; he would thus 
realize the value of careful observation. The exercise 
would impress the pupil with the fact that his ability 



182 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

to arouse interest and revive definite images in the 
minds of others depends very largely on his power 
of accurate expression. 

Composition. — Knowledge acquired from studying 
school text-books should be used in the construction 
of original compositions. Until it is used it is dead 
learning; until it is used as the material for composi- 
tion it is little more than memory storage. Expres- 
sion is the test of the pupil's knowledge as well as 
the key to his habits. Method should compel the 
pupil to express himself, to realize his best effort in 
all he does in the schoolroom. The more uniform 
and exacting the methods of a teacher the shorter the 
time required to dislodge bad practices on the part of 
the pupils. Composition is the one school test that 
requires the pupil to exhibit himself, to show just 
what he really is. Composition writing is a test of 
the trustworthiness of the memory and the power of 
the imagination. By embelishing memory facts the 
pupil cultivates his imagination. 

The pupil should recite his class task; that is, he 
should give an account of what he has learned of the 
lesson assigned him. The pupil, not the teacher, 
should recite. The worst conceivable teacher, from a 
training point of view, is the one who does all or 
nearly all the reciting. The act of preparing a lesson 
for a properly conducted recitation trains both mem- 



IMAGINATION 183 

ory and imagination. It trains both the reproductive 
and constructive powers, because memory reproduces 
and imagination gives content. As soon as the pupil 
learns that he must give an account of himself in 
every recitation, as soon as he learns that the teacher 
will not use his time, he will begin to interest himself 
in his studies, and memory and imagination will 
kindly volunteer their assistance. 

History — Geography. — These subjects appeal to 
the imagination with much force. "When a chapter 
of history or a section of geography has been com- 
pleted in formal class recitation each pupil should be 
required to prepare a written outline of it. In his- 
tory the pupil should state only important facts, give 
only a few dates, but strive to build strong and true 
pictures of the men who made the history. Without 
imagination history cannot be well written or fully 
comprehended. In geography the pupil should draw 
a memory map of the country, locate and describe 
the principal cities, rivers, lakes, and mountain 
ranges ; in short, he should make a pen-picture of the 
country as a whole. 

The distinctness of the ideal picture depends on the 
distinctness of the revived percepts. No one can 
imagine well who does not see, hear, touch, taste, and 
smell well. We cannot build a substantial structure 
upon a sand foundation. We cannot get away from 



184 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

perception and clear images. The teacher should 
bear in mind the facts that clear images are built up 
gradually, and that it is his duty to know whether the 
pupil has built them correctly. This he can ascertain 
in only one way, by searching questions. In teach- 
ing history and geography the great truth so beauti- 
fully expressed by the wisest American should be 
kept in mind in assigning lessons : ' « Details are 
always melancholy and should be left to the imagina- 
tion of the reader." 

Abuse of Imagination. — Imagination is often 
abused. From its very nature it is more liable to be 
abused than any other faculty. In imagination we 
have a mighty power, a power that should be care- 
fully cultivated in the right direction. While imagi- 
nation is essential in every mental operation it must 
be kept under control or it will run away with us. 
The man of high ideals is not always a man of action. 
One may become a mere castle builder, a day dreamer. 
One may spend his time in enjoying his ideals and 
neglect to put foundations under them. An un- 
trained imagining mind may fail to make the neces- 
sary examination into facts and principles, and thus 
invite failure. An untrained imagining mind may ig- 
nore the facts established by inductive reasoning, and 
thus invite failure. The mere castle builder abandons 
effort and hopes for reality. He ignores the stub- 



IMAGINATION 185 

born facts of life and jumps into eminence with one 
bound. The young cannot be too deeply impressed 
with the fact that condition is a growth, and that suc- 
cess is a reward won by high ideals, purpose, and 
effort. "If you wish success in life, make persever- 
ance your bosom friend, experience your wise coun- 
sellor, caution your elder brother, and hope your 
guardian genius." 

Imagination — Ideals. — Ideals depend largely on 
one's early associations and environments. The 
youth whose imagination has not been fired by the 
conduct of the courageous and honorable of his asso- 
ciates and the beautiful in nature will not amount to 
much. The young man is dead whose imagination is 
not fired by studying the life of Washington or Lin- 
coln. An ideal man may embody the distinguishing 
characteristics of several great men. He may em- 
body the energy and self-confidence of Napoleon ; the 
integrity and patriotism of Washington ; the iron will 
of Grant. ^Esthetic imagination concerns itself with 
the ideal. The ideals formed in youth by the aes- 
thetic imagination determine character. Life is won 
or lost by its controlling ideal. Thus imagination is 
a character builder. The aesthetic imagination may 
create high ideals or low ones, which, depends on the 
materials supplied by experience. 

The first step to take in forming an ideal self is a 



186 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

belief in self. No one can realize the ideal who does 
not believe in God, in himself, in humanity, in law, 
in justice. Want of faith in one's self is the cause 

of most failures. 

" In Syria, India or Egypt sought, 
One answer only have the years 
Sent down to banish doubts and fears : 
Within Thyself must Heaven be caught 

And captive held — or all is tears ! 
For this saints died and martyrs fought." 

' ' Thyself within ! Thyself within ! 

O friend! find here thy strength, thy peace. 

Pray not that loss and change may cease — 
Pray, rather, higher heights to win! 

Thy spirits Godward wings release, 
And soar thee where thou art akin! " 

An ideal that does not inspire persistent effort has 
little value. There is but little hope for the success 
of one who is not " immovably centered." A con- 
stant endeavor to realize the ideal is one's duty. 
Struggle is the law of life. Persistency of effort dis- 
tinguishing: the successful from the unsuccessful 
man. Great deeds are not gifts, but the results of 
high ideals, purpose, and ceaseless effort. Every one 
is privileged to form an ideal and strive to attain it. 
No one ever became an individual of note who was 
content to admire and praise the ideal in others. 
Moral character is not the product of ideals and 
dreams, but of ideals, purpose, and effort. Each one 



IMAGINATION 187 

must be up and doing. Each one has a part to play 
in this busy world. Each of us must throw his 
whole heart and soul into his work or fail. « ' En- 
thusiasm is the genius of sincerity, and truth accom- 
plishes no victories without it." The ideals formed 
by the aesthetic imagination are ever striving to work 
themselves out in action, and in this way character is 
shaped. Great therefore is the responsibility of the 
teacher. Woe to the teacher who does not furnish 
his pupils high ideals. The teacher that has real- 
ized his ideals is dead. 

"Make your pupils think." Individual thinking 
and doing are the only means whereby man discovers 
and realizes his relation to God and man. Thinking; 
has been the death knell to much that has for centu- 
ries been considered mysterious and supernatural; it 
will continue to free man from the dictation of the 
dead. Education, intellectual and moral power, is 
man's only hope for intellectual and moral liberty. 
Education tends to individualize humanity. As yet 
thinking is a habit only with a small minority; the 
masses are still content with passive beliefs. 



188 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

TEST QUESTIONS ON THE CHAPTER. 

1. What is meant by reproductive imagination? 

2. "What is meant by constructive imagination? 

3. How many kinds of constructive imagination are there? 

4. In what sense is imagination a creative process? 

5. What is the distinguishing difference between memory 
and constructive imagination? 

6. Show that imagination plays a part in perception. 

7. On what does the character of the imaginative image 
usually depend? 

8. In what way does imagination depend on memory? 

9. Show that imagination depends on perception. 

10. What is the usual cause of indistinct mental images? 

11. In what sense is the imagination limited by experience? 

12. What is meant by aesthetic imagination? 

13. Give two original illustrations to prove that imagination 
may affect the body. 

14. State three points of difference between memory and 
the constructive imagination. 

15. Why do geography and history appeal more directly to 
the imagination than arithmetic and grammar? 

16. Why is he who has realized his ideal dead? 

v 17. Why is he who is no longer a student unfit to lead others? 

18. What is the relation between the ideal and the real? 

19. Why is the ideal never realized, and what would be the 
effect on the individual if it could be realized? 

20. Why are ideals character builders? 

21. In what sense does one reap what he sows? 

22. What is meant by the sentence " Life is a struggle "? 



CHAPTEK VI k 
ASSOCIATION — APPERCEPTION 

Association of ideas is closely allied to the condi- 
tions and laws of memory. Experience proves that 
the reproduction of a concept is always accompanied 
by the reproduction of another concept or of a train 
of concepts. Mental activity and mental develop- 
ment are governed by laws not made by psychologists 
but by the Creator, and discovered by students of 
mental science. Man only discovers and uses; he 
does not create. The general law governing the as- 
sociation of ideas is a very simple one. " The activ- 
ity of mind never leaves sensuous elements isolated, 
but connects them into larger wholes." 

An example or two will illustrate this general law. 
If you will think about the last teachers' institute 
you attended, you will find yourself thinking about 
the conductor of the institute, about the instructors, 
about the distinguished visitors, about the evening 
lectures, and probably about some person whose ac- 
quaintance you made there. Again, if you will think 
about your last railroad excursion, you will find your- 
self thinking about the preparation for the excursion, 
189 



190 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEAGHEBS 

about meeting your friends at the railroad station, 
about many incidents of the trip, about the return 
trip, and the greeting on your arrival at home. 

Yesterday an acquaintance showed me the photo- 
graph of a friend of mine who was killed by Indians 
years ago. The sight of my old friend's picture 
started a train of ideas and events, covering a long 
period of time, but which had not been in conscious- 
ness for years. I was forced to review the acquaint- 
ance with my dead friend, so great was the influence 
of suggestion, due to the sight of his picture. Among 
the events which the sight of the photograph sug- 
gested were the following : The name of the place 
where we first met ; the length of time we lived in ad- 
joining houses ; the character of his professional busi- 
ness ; his removal to St. Louis ; thence to New Mex- 
ico ; his tragic death ; his burial at Fort Scott, Kan- 
sas. (The teacher will add another example, and the 
class another.) 

Association of ideas may be defined as follows: 1. 
' ' Association of ideas in psychology is that process in 
reproduction by which past cognitions are brought 
back through connection with something present in 
the mind." 2. "Association of ideas is the power 
of the mind that binds together all the elements of an 
experience in such a manner that the recall of any 
one element will tend to recall the entire experience." 



ASSOCIATION 191 

3. "Association of ideas is the means by which a 
successive train of ideas arises." Why is it that 
ideas enter into successive trains, each suggesting the 
next? The answer to this question is a simple one, 
and suggests much to the teacher. Experience proves 
that ideas which have once been in consciousness to- 
gether have the power of calling up one another. If 
any part of an experience is revived, there is a ten- 
dency for it to complete the experience by suggesting 
the parts not actually presented. An example will 
illustrate this law. In 1858 the writer heard Mr. 
Lincoln make a speech. By his act of attention at 
the time, the speech and the speaker become indis- 
solubly united into one idea. Years afterward the 
writer read the oration and there recurred to his 
mind the idea of the speaker as he delivered it. The 
reason is evident ; the speech was not an independent 
idea, and it completed itself by suggesting its other 
part. (The teacher will call on the class for addi- 
tional illustrations of this essential law governing the 
association of ideas.) 

It is clear from the foregoing illustrations that 
thinking about anything tends to make one think 
of something connected with it. This mental fact 
is called the association of ideas. "Of a whole 
group of contemporaneous events any one may call up 
the image of the other." 



192 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

" Lulled in the secret chambers of the brain, 
Our thoughts are linked by many a hidden chain; 
Awake but one, and lo! what myriads rise, 
Each stamps his image as the other flies." 

Every reproduction of an experience shows that one 
idea depends on or han^s to another. "Each idea 
as it comes before us reaches one hand back into the 
past and the other forward into the future." One 
cannot have an isolated idea. If he could have one it 
would soon pass out of consciousness, because there 
would be nothing in the mind to hold it there. The 
laws of association clearly show that ideas do not exist 
alone nor on their own account. Our sense-impres- 
sions are experienced in a succession of time and re- 
ferred to an order of coexistence in space ; they are 
not recalled as separate and single impressions but as- 
sociated in groups. We have already seen that the 
organization of percepts in certain definite relations is 
essential to perception. Accordingly our ideas are 
connected, and constitute a train of ideas that recur 
to consciousness in a certain order and relation. 
Ideas suggest one another in a manner with which we 
are familiar. The idea of a hearse brings up ideas 
about death. The idea of a house suggests the ap- 
pearance of those who live there. The first words of 
a song suggest the following words. 

Association — Perception. — Perceptions are de- 



ASSOCIATION 193 

pendent on the presentation of external objects; 
hence the order in which they follow each other is 
determined from without, not by the mind alone. 
Mental re-presentations are not directly dependent on 
external objects ; hence the order of sequence is de- 
termined by some principle of mind itself. We are 
conscious of a constantly changing train of mediate 
cognitions; one follows another unceasingly. Evi- 
dently they do not arise at haphazard, but are con- 
nected by bonds which determine the train. Sug- 
gested sequence occurs when a present mental state 
induces the repetition of a past similar state with its 
associations. This is association by similarity. This 
bond between the present and the past is determined 
by experience and the habits of the individual. A 
little thinking shows that ideas are held in the mind 
by different kinds of connections. This means that 
the several elements of an experience are combined or 
grouped in certain ways. This grouping is according 
to the laws of association. 

The mind connects all sensations as far as possible 
into one total maximum experience. A simple illus- 
tration will show that the general law of presentation 
is true. If the eye sees a rod striking a surface at 
certain intervals, and at the same periods the ear 
hears a noise, the two will go together into one idea, 
whether or not they have a common source. So two 



194 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

events occurring at about the same time, say a rain 
storm and a certain phase of the moon, will tend to 
be united. The tendency to shun isolated elements 
and to force connections wherever possible is perhaps 
the fundamental law of mental action. Every intelli- 
gent experience proves that isolated ideas cannot be 
retained. Experience is the dictionary of life; it de- 
fines, assimilates, and relates. 

Enough has been said to show that ideas are gov- 
erned by law, and that thought is not a haphazard 
product. " Sometimes we fancy that ideas floating 
through our minds are under the control of no law ; 
but the truth is that our ideas appear under the direc- 
tion of a law as inflexible as that which controls the 
ocean currents or the rising or falling of the tides. 
All ideas have certain definite associations with other 
ideas and they come up in groups. There is always 
an association between our ideas, although there are 
cases when we cannot trace it. An impression may 
be associated with another in several ways. Psychol- 
ogists treat association under three heads : Association 
by Similarity or Resemblance; association by Con- 
tiguity ; association by Contrast." 

Association by Similarity. — All mental life falls 
under the principle of suggestion. Suggestion covers 
all forms of association. Ideas not only suggest 
each other, but actual sights, sounds, and tastes sug- 



ASSOCIATION- 195 

gest ideas. Any word or gesture suggests certain 
things or mental states of which it is the sign ; and 
the thing or the feeling suggests its name when one 
has learned its name. The mention of the word boy 
suggests a real, tangible boy; the raised hand in 
school suggests a want ; a groan suggests a pain ; a 
cough suggests a cold ; a laugh suggests a pleasurable 
state of mind; tears suggest a disconsolate state of 
mind. Experience proves that means suggest ends, 
causes effects, signs the things they signify, and the 
reverse. The sight of a scuttle of coal standing by a 
stove suggests building a fire. The smell of smoke 
suggests fire as its cause. The sight of a man reeling 
down the street suggests alcohol as the cause of his 
reeling. Of the principles which control the associa- 
tion of ideas, association by similarity is the most im- 
portant. "This principle asserts that an impression 
(or image) will tend to call up the image of objects 
previously perceived which resembles it." 

The law of similarity is the law of suggestion by 
resemblanee. When we are learning anything we no- 
tice similar points and bind them together in unity in 
consciousness. In remembering past experiences we 
constantly pass from one past experience to others 
that are similar in character. On account of the re- 
semblance a new face suggests an old and familiar 
one. This man with a Roman nose suggests another 



196 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

man with the same kind of a nose. The mental pic- 
ture of the cathedral of this city suggests another ca- 
thedral which had been seen or read about. The sight 
of a mountain makes you think of another mountain 
far distant, not because the two objects were ever in 
consciousness at the same time or in immediate suc- 
cession, but because of the resemblance of the one 
present in consciousness to the mountain seen long 
ago. This man or that woman suggests another man 
or another woman on account of a resemblance in fea- 
tures, physique, voice or action. The greater the re- 
semblance between two things, the greater the asso- 
ciative force and the probability that the presence or 
image of one would suggest the other. 

Suggestion by similarity includes whatever ideas or 
objects are like one another in any respect, whether 
in appearance, in manner of use, in sound or in any 
other way. No limit can be put to the use of this 
principle. The apple blossom may call up the rose ; 
the locust flower the pea. The idea of a straight line 
may suggest rectitude; a hammer may suggest a 
hatchet. That is, "Wherever there is perceived to 
be the slightest similarity between two ideas, then 
one idea has the power of summoning the other into 
consciousness." Almost every day the close observer 
is made to think of an absent and distant friend on 
seeing a stranger who looks like him. Almost every 



ASSOCIATION 197 

day one or more past experiences are brought back 
again because of their similarity to a present experi- 
ence. In this way the past helps us to know the 
present. This kind of a connection between ideas is 
called association through similarity and may be 
stated as follows: "Present actions, sensations, 
thoughts or emotions tend to revive their like among 
previous recurring states." 

Association by similarity is the method of acquir- 
ing new ideas by bringing into use ideas already ac- 
quired. Association by similarity is the general prin- 
ciple of all intellectual acquisition. This linking on 
new ideas to old ones because the old ideas apperceive 
a similarity in the new idea is called apperception. 
The trained teacher should persistently keep this 
fact, not only in his own mind, but before the minds 
of his pupils. This he can do by a series of well- 
arranged questions and illustrated examples. Pupils 
will soon see that lessons and subjects are related, 
and that interest and progress depend on a clear un- 
derstanding of the relation. When this important 
and universal fact is clearly seen a majority of pupils 
will become interested and studious. 

Association by Contiguity. — "Mental modes oc- 
curring together or in close succession adhere, so that 
the after recurrence of any of them tends to suggest 
the others." The sight of one suffering from any 



198 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

cause suggests a remedy ; the sound of a shot from a 
pistol suggests the roar of a cannon ; the smell of a 
perfume suggests the lady to whose dress the faint 
odor of it clung when I met her years ago. The law 
of contiguity only tends to suggest ; it does not always 
suggest. If the conjoint attention given the objects 
when first seen in consciousness was passive the pres- 
ence or mention of one of the elements or images 
may not suggest the other. The failure in such a 
case is due, not to the law of association, but to the 
failure to observe the laws of mental acquisition. 

One letter of an alphabet suggests the next and so 
on ; a line of a familiar poem suggests the succeeding 
line, this the next until the whole poem is recited. A 
visiting friend once asked a little Irish boy his age ; 
the boy replied : "I was seven years old the day the 
pig died." The reply is suggestive, because it shows 
that the boy had associated what to him were two im- 
portant events in time — his birthday and the death 
of his pet pig. Teacher, do as the Irish boy did ; as- 
sociate important events ; be sure that the events are 
important, then each will help to hold the other in 
memory. A fact as we have seen may be related to 
another, because the two occurred together in the 
same place, or at the same time, or because the two 
are similar in some respect. 

If you think about a mountain it may make you 



ASSOCIATION 199 

think of a picnic you attended on its summit. The 
thought of the mountain and the thought of the 
picnic were in the mind at the same time; that is, the 
two elements were part of the same state of con- 
sciousness or parts of the same experience. This 
kind of connection between ideas is called association 
through contiguity and may be generalized as follows : 
"Presentations or impressions which occur together 
or in immediate succession will afterwards tend to 
revive, recall or suggest one another." From the 
definition it is seen that the law of contiguity covers 
two kinds of connections or experiences, those of 
space (occurring together) and those of time (occur- 
ring in immediate succession.) 

Association by similarity or rather by resemblance 
is strongly marked off from association by contiguity. 
Similarity or resemblance brings together experiences 
widely apart in time. Thus a horse I saw to-day in 
St. Louis reminds me of one I saw in Independence, 
Mo., three years ago. Contiguity associates ideas, 
images, and events which were adjacent in our experi- 
ence, contemporaneous, or immediately successive in 
time, and things contiguous in place. Thus I am re- 
minded of a lecture I heard by seeing the hall in 
which it was delivered, or of Mr. Jones by passing 
the house in which he once lived. This form of as- 
sociation covers all cases where one element recalls 



200 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

some other which has been coexistent with it in 
space. If ideas once in consciousness did not tend to 
combine and suggest one another, we could not form 
fixed habits among our ideas or accumulate knowledge. 
Association by Contrast. — The least valuable of 
the three laws controlling the association of ideas is 
association by contrast. By contrast is meant that 
an impression, object or event tends to call up the 
image of its opposite. This law or principle is ques- 
tioned. It is difficult to see that black suggests 
white ; poverty, wealth ; a level country, a mountain- 
ous one ; a tall building, a low one ; a handsome lady, 
a homely one; virtue, vice; and so on. It is difficult 
to see how association by contrast aids retention or 
acquisition. The force of contrast is best seen in 
setting in bold relief opposites. Contrast enables the 
casual observer to see differences he might not see 
without it. The chief use of contrast is to arouse at- 
tention and thereby stamp deeper on the mind the 
lesson taught or the impression sought. The sum is 
this : The intensity and vividness of the original im- 
pressions, the frequency of their revival and the men- 
tal habits of the individual determine the associate 
force of ideas. The value of every school exercise is 
measured by the character of the pupil's experience 
during the same. The mere reiteration of text-book 
facts and moral maxims never made anyone better. 



ASSOCIATION 201 

The essential thing is that the mind grasps the 
ideas together. The objects may be thousands of 
miles apart and separated by an interval of many 
years. If Emerson and Carlyle were in consciousness 
at the same time the mention of one will tend to bring 
before the mind the other. That is, ideas which were 
once a part of the same mental state tend to suggest 
each other. The mention of the name of one great 
man often suggests the name of another great man 
without regard to time or place. The mention of 
Emerson, the greatest American essayist, may bring 
to mind Carlyle, the greatest of modern English es- 
sayists, if we have been in the habit of thinking of 
one in connection with the other. The one great fact 
of association of ideas is, that what is true of two im- 
pressions is true of any number. Any one of a group 
of two or more impressions may call up the image of 
any other of the group. In a series of events each 
link tends to call up the adjacent link ; thus the entire 
series of any number of connected events is again 
brought into consciousness. 

The tendency of the mind to call up or suggest 
ideas and images that were once in consciousness to- 
gether or in immediate succession depends on the 
character of the attention given when the objects 
were first in consciousness, and on the frequency of 
their occurrence. The oftener two percepts are in 



202 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

consciousness together the stronger will be the result- 
ing bond of association. Often many repetitions of 
the original experience are necessary to make a perma- 
nent association. The number of repetitions required 
depends on the mental habits of the individual. The 
grouping of sensations into perceptions, the combin- 
ing of percepts into concepts, the combining of con- 
cepts into judgments, the combining of judgments 
into syllogisms, the combining of trains of images in 
reproduction illustrate the combining tendency of the 
mind, and the dependence of every mental operation 
on the preceding one. All actions of consciousness 
appear to be continually striving to combine with past 
and simultaneous actions. 

The laws of association suggest much to the 
thoughtful teacher. They suggest that one great art 
of teaching is the art of finding connections between 
seemingly isolated facts and showing that the facts 
are related to what the pupil has already learned, that 
the new lesson is only an extension of what is already 
in his mind. If it were possible for the mind to re- 
tain unrelated ideas they would be worthless, for rela- 
tion is the measure of value. This fact the pupil will 
readily see and feel if he really knows what he has 
learned. In too many schools pupils learn much they 
never know. What the pupil really knows he can use 
at any time and in any place. The pupil's ability to 



ASSOCIATION 203 

use his learning distinguishes the teacher who trains 
his pupils to think from the teacher who is content 
with the mere recitation of text-book facts in the lan- 
guage of the authors. 

A memory stored with facts without the ability to 
apply them is a sorry condition. Mere recitation ap- 
peals almost exclusively to the memory ; it does not, 
cannot develop the power to apply the facts learned. 
A pupil's ability to use his learning is the true test of 
a teacher's professional strength. " Truth that has 
been merely learned," says Schopenhauer, "is like 
an artificial limb, a false tooth, a waxen nose; it ad- 
heres to us only because it has been put on." It 
does not enrich the life of the learner. Mere recita- 
tion will not fix in the mind forms of expression, the 
meanings of definitions or the application of princi- 
ples. Use gives meaning to learning. Doing de- 
fines; all else is cheap. Man is known, not by his 
opinions, but by his actions. 

Review. — The importance of the laws which govern 
the association of ideas suggests a brief review of 
the principles of association, together with additional 
illustrative examples of each kind of association. 
Correct methods of instruction recognize that ideas 
are associated and that retention and reproduction de- 
pend on how the ideas were taken into the mind. 
Chance has no place in the mind world. Mental 



204 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEES 

power is the product of the same three factors that 
yield successes in every other department of life — 
self-trust, high ideals, and persistent effort. Success 
is seen only in the results which are the logical fruits 
of a methodical observance of law. First in order of 
importance in the association of ideas is association 
by Similarity , or Resemblance. 

Association by similarity, or resemblance, as it is 
sometimes called, associates ideas that are in any 
respect similar. That is, the suggesting state and 
the suggested state must be similar; a present idea 
recalls a past similar idea without reference to time 
or place. Examples : I see a man and recognize him 
as having seen him before. The recognition does not 
involve the ideas of time and place. The present 
mental state is merely associated with a past similar 
state. I hear a sound, as that of a steam whistle, 
and recognize it as indistinguisable from a sound I 
have often heard before. The present suggesting 
state revives a past mental experience because it is 
similar to it. The taste of a sweet apple I have just 
eaten reminds me of the sweet apples I ate last win- 
ter. The slightest similarity or resemblance of a 
present mental state to a previous experience tends to 
recall the previous experience and its associations. 

Association by contiguity associates ideas that have 
been adjacent in space or consecutive in time. " The 



ASSOCIATION 205 

idea of curling smoke suggests the fire that produces 
it." The odor of a rose may suggest the form and 
color of a rose. If you think of the capitol building 
you will probably think of the distinguished Congress- 
man you heard speak while you were there. If you 
recall the appearance of the White House you will 
probably think of the man who as President occupied 
it at that time. The law is a simple one and is easily 
proved by the routine experiences of every-day life. 
The law is : Ideas that have been conjoined in space 
or in time have the power of recalling one another. 
" In other words, objects existing by the side of one 
another, events following one another become so asso- 
ciated that one calls up another." This is due to the 
fact that the objects and events were once together in 
consciousness. (Teacher will illustrate.) 

Association also explains retention and condemns 
cramming. James says: " Retention means liability 
to recall and it means nothing more than liability. 
The only proof of there being retention is that recall 
actually takes place. The retention of an experience 
is, in short, but another name for the possibility of 
thinking it over again or the tendency to think it 
again with its past surroundings. Whatever acci- 
dental cue may turn this tendency into an activity, the 
permanent ground of the tendency itself lies in the 
organized, neural paths by which the cue calls up the 



206 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

memorable experience." A careful study of the 
foregoing quotation shows that retention depends on 
brain conditions ; that the mind is not a place , stored 
with odds and ends, a sort of pantechnicon. 

APPERCEPTION. 

"Apperception is that form of mental activity un- 
der which percepts are brought into relation with our 
previous intellectual and emotional states and assim- 
lated with them." 2. "The bringing to bear what 
has been retained of past experiences in such a way as 
to interpret, to give weight to the new experience." 
3. The meaning in the mind. " Apperception," says 
Wundt, "is the act of comparison under the eye of 
attention, i. e., the discernment of the relation be- 
tween objects." It has value as emphasizing an act 
common to all cognitive states, and thus unifying 
their exercises. In general we may say whenever by 
an act of attention mental states are unified into a re- 
lated whole it is an act of apperception. As the word 
apperception figures prominently in the pedagogics of 
to-day, it is well to learn just what the word means, 
and what it is to apperceive an idea or relation. 

James says : ' ' Every impression that comes in 
from without, be it a sentence which we hear, an ob- 
ject of vision, or an effluvium which assails our nose, 
no sooner enters our consciousness than it is drafted 



APPERCEPTION 207 

off in some determinate direction or other, making 
connection with the other materials already there, and 
finally producing what we call our reaction. The im- 
pression arouses its old associates; they go out to 
meet it; it is received by them. It is the fate of ev- 
ery impression thus to fall into a mind occupied with 
memories, ideas, and interests, and by those it is 
taken in." The foregoing quotation is a concise and 
simple explanation of the meaning of the word apper- 
ception, as well as a clear illustration of what is meant 
by the phrase apperceiving process. 

Apperception — Retention. — The mutual relation 
which always exists between apperception and reten- 
tion is seen in the following definitions of these two 
terms. Apperception has been defined as: " The ac- 
tion of the mind upon the material presented to it." 
Retention has been defined as : " The action upon the 
mind of this material when apprehended." As ideas 
are apprehended by using the stock of ideas on hand, 
it follows that every apprehension changes conscious- 
ness; that every apprehended idea in some degree 
changes the structure of the mind, because the mind 
has not only acted upon it, but has acquired addi- 
tional material. Mind apprehends in only one way, 
by its own activity. Mind retains in only one way, 
by relating and associating ideas. These facts sug- 
gest much to the teacher; they suggest carefully 



208 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

graded lessons as interest depends on the relations of 
the known to the unknown. 

The mind grasps the things of the outer world by 
the aid of what it has hitherto experienced in a simi- 
lar direction. The act of using previously acquired 
perceptions in relating and assimilating new impres- 
sions is called apperception to distinguish it from per- 
ception. Nothing new can become knowledge until it 
is psychologically associated with something already 
in the mind resembling it. If the new impression 
cannot relate itself to something already in the mind 
it soon passes out of consciousness. This psycholog- 
ical fact is easily verified by introspection and bears 
directly on the work of the teacher. Sully says: 
* ' Association by similarity illustrates the general 
principle of all intellectual acquisition, that the mind 
only gains full possession of a new idea, fact, or truth 
when it assimilates it to kindred elements of cognition 
already acquired. This attaching or linking on of 
new ideas to old is Apperception. We apperceive or 
mentally appropriate a new idea through the medium 
of some similar idea or group of ideas already in the 
mind. ' ' ( Teacher will illustrate. ) 

The new idea when assimilated with the ideas 
already in the mind is said to be apperceived; the old 
group is called the apperceiving group. " The apper- 
ceiving conceptions usually stand like armed soldiers 



APPEB CEP TION 209 

within the strongholds of consciousness, ready to 
pounce upon everything which shows itself within the 
portals of the senses, in order to overcome it and 
make it serviceable to themselves." The theory of 
apperception clearly suggests to the thoughtful 
teacher at least two things: (1) that the minds of 
the pupils must be prepared to ' ' take in ' ' the new 
matter; (2) that the new ideas must be akin to the 
old and presented in a methodical manner. The 
teacher can "dovetail" the new ideas into the old 
only when he knows how much his pupils know that 
is akin to the new ideas, when he thoroughly under- 
stands the subject himself and has tact in presenting 
it. The apperceiving group of ideas should be 
aroused from a passive state to an active or even ag- 
gressive state by the teacher before the pupils are 
called on to recite the new matter. 

The most tactful and learned teacher cannot inter- 
est a pupil in any object or principle which is wholly 
new to the pupil. There being no relation between 
the old and the new interest is impossible. The mind 
must make the old interpret the new. When the 
mind receives a new impression it refers it to im- 
pressions previously received. The power of the old 
impression to interpret and classify the new ma- 
terial depends on the strength, clearness, and com- 
pleteness of the old impression. This self-evident 



210 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

fact is also a valuable classroom fact. Only what the 
pupil thoroughly learns is helpful to him in acquiring 
new knowledge. Weak and indefinite perceptions 
have little apperceptive power. Indefinite teaching 
leaves vague and indefinite impressions if it leaves 
any. Exact teaching is the only teaching that stimu- 
lates mental activity on the part of the pupil and 
compels him to realize himself. The pupil's ability to 
recall and relate what he has studied depends on the 
method of the teacher and the character of the pu- 
pil's habits of study. 

A present impression produces such an effect on 
the mind as past experiences render possible. The 
most learned and most elaborately illustrated lecture 
on electricity would be as sounding brass or a clang- 
ing cymbal to one who had never heard of electricity. 
The mind of the pupil, like the field of the farmer, 
should be prepared for cultivation before the seed is 
planted. The lesson and instruction of to-day should 
prepare the pupil for the tasks of to-morrow. The 
knowledge acquired to-morrow can only be an en- 
largement and an extension of what had been pre- 
viously acquired. This fundamental fact of psychol- 
ogy should be studied, mastered, and applied in the 
classroom. Apperception is mental appropriation. 
It is a higher mental process than perception. Per- 
ception combines the raw material of knowledge into 



APPERCEPTION 211 

objects ; apperception uses these accumulations in the 
acquisition of new knowledge. 

We always see things in terms of our past experi- 
ence. The brain is a changed organ after each per- 
ception. A new perception feels the deflecting force 
of former perceptions. Halleck says: "A woman 
may apperceive a passing bird as an ornament to her 
bonnet ; a fruit grower, as an insect killer ; a poet, as 
a songster; an artist, as a fine bit of coloring and 
form. The housewife may apperceive old rags as 
something to be thrown away ; a ragpicker, as some- 
thing to be gathered up. A carpenter, a botanist, an 
ornithologist, a hunter, and a geologist walking 
through a forest would not see the same things. 
These men would have brains which would respond 
differently to the same stimuli. The ornithologist 
might hear every bird note ; the botanist, with equally 
keen ears, might not have an auditory sensation of 
sufficient intensity to affect consciousness." 

The more clearly a pupil understands a given prob- 
lem or principle, the more readily and correctly he 
will use his knowledge in the solution of new prob- 
lems and in applying new principles. When a pupil 
sees clearly that length multiplied by width gives sur- 
face he readily sees that surface multiplied by depth 
gives volume or content. When he sees clearly that 
a phrase is used as a part of a speech he will readily 



212 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

see that a clause is used in the same way. Only what 
is clearly understood is helpful in acquiring new 
knowledge. Indefiniteness is the discouraging weak- 
ness of much teaching. Neither intellectual pleasure 
nor profit accompanies vague impressions. As the 
mind is awakened and developed only through its own 
activity, the pupil should be required to use his learn- 
ing, to give expression to his thoughts and feelings. 
His school opportunity is valuable to him only to the 
extent that it compels him to realize himself through 
his own efforts. 

In a large sense apperception is to the mind what 
digestion is to the body. The senses bring to the 
mind the raw material of knowledge. On this raw 
material the mind exerts its assimilative function. 
This act of the mind is called apperception, a term 
that should be as well understood by the teacher as the 
word digestion is by the physician. It is this mental 
fact that requires the teacher to know that the pupil 
clearly understands what he has recited. The teacher 
should see to it that the pupil has more than learn- 
ing; he needs understanding. His school exercises 
should be real experiences. The formalism of the 
recitation should not permit the pupil to hide himself 
in a surface exhibition of mere words. The pupil 
should be required to illustrate and to apply every 
text-book definition and rule he quotes. It is by af- 



APPERCEPTION 213 

firming that he examines, by showing that he looks, 
by composing that he thinks, and by doing that he 
becomes trained and educated. 

One can understand only what is akin to something 
already existing in himself. ' ' We hear only what we 
know." "We see only what we have been trained 
to see." The present impression produces such an 
effect on the mind as the past history of the mind 
renders possible. That is, we learn new things by 
bringing into use our past experiences. What we are 
not, we can neither know nor feel. We can neither 
know, nor see, nor touch, nor taste, nor smell, except 
as we have learned. Experience is the key that un- 
locks the beauties of the physical, intellectual, and 
moral worlds, the only means whereby man becomes 
real, the only test of relationship and reality. The 
cold and almost pulseless f ormalism of many teachers 
will yet give place to experience meetings, to meetings 
held by teachers of culture, purpose, and enthusiasm. 

The points of likeness in a new object to objects al- 
ready in the mind are the bonds which connect the 
new experience with the old. The combining ten- 
dency of the mind, this grouping together like things, 
makes classification possible. It is through this com- 
bining and grouping tendency of the mind that we 
form classes of objects or concepts. An illustration 
or so will verify the foregoing statement. A little 



214 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEAGHEBS 

girl who had never before seen a green squash was 
asked what it was. She looked at it closely for some 
time then answered: "It's a pear." Another girl 
who had never before seen a fern called a pot of ferns 
a pot of green feathers. A boy while fishing caught 
an eel and called it a snake. A South Sea Islander, 
who was familiar with sheep, called the first hog he 
saw a grunting sheep. 

In each of the above illustrations the mind used its 
old stock of concepts in an effort to relate and classify 
the new objects. The life of the close observer is 
filled with experiences similar to those given. Apper- 
ception, like all other forms of mental activity, is 
best understood by observing the operations of one's 
own mind when new objects or new thoughts are pre- 
sented for assimilation. In psychology introspection 
translates text-book statements and theories into per- 
sonal experiences. Every statement made in psy- 
chology should be tested and thus made a living 
truth. Introspection, a little looking-inward on the 
working of the mind, will make it clear to the young- 
est teacher that the mind uses the knowledge it al- 
ready possesses in interpreting new impressions. Ac- 
quiring more knowledge really means increasing and 
extending the knowledge already acquired. 

Pedagogy is applied psychology. There is nothing 
miraculous in the results of a successful teacher. 



APPEBCEPTION 215 

He reaps what lie sows. Results are the only proper 
and adequate measure of a teacher's methods. " By 
their fruits ye shall know them." There is no other 
measure of one's fitness, purpose or character. A 
feeling recognition by the teacher that his methods 
are founded upon correct principles does much to 
sweeten his labor and to strengthen his faith in him- 
self. The inspiration which yields success in the 
schoolroom is born of intelligent aims. 

Teacher, learn how your own mind acts that you 
may know how the minds of your pupils act. By 
becoming thoroughly acquainted with yourself you 
will better understand your pupils. By learning how 
you acquire knowledge you will learn how to instruct 
others. If you would know the laws that govern 
the growth of mind you must experiment with your 
own mind. In the study of psychology the need of 
experiment with the self is exceedingly great. The 
general facts of psychology are best seen in the in- 
ductive processes which discovered them. Every 
teacher should discover these facts for himself 
through a study of self. Eead psychology and books 
on method, but study self. 

Many earnest teachers have studied text-book psy- 
chology without profit. They have studied words, 
not the self. Psychology is the study of the self. 
It cannot be learned from text-books alone. In text- 



216 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

books we find the facts of psychology, but not the 
subject of study. Text-book facts can only aid one 
in the study of the laws which govern the actions of 
his own mind. The study of psychology is a study of 
mental processes and products rather than a study of 
text-books. The essential facts of educational psy- 
chology are easily within the comprehension of the 
average high school pupil and should be mastered 
during; the high school course. The teacher who 
knows nothing of psychology must copy the methods 
of others. If he copies after good models he may 
succeed as a teacher ; if he copies after bad models he 
must fail as a teacher. In either case he is a ma- 
chine. His instruction lacks the force of personal 
power ; it lacks the enthusiasm which compels atten- 
tion and which leads pupils to independent thinking. 

The work of the school and of life in general can- 
not be well done mechanically. Every successful 
teacher is partly original. Success depends more on 
what is within than on what is without. No one who 
blindly copies the methods of another can ever make 
an inspiring teacher. Back of every success is per- 
sonality, intelligent purpose, courage, and enthusiasm. 
A machine teacher does not carry into his work any 
of the primary elements of success. The teacher who 
does not study methods as well as text-books must al- 
ways remain a copyist. A knowledge of correct 



APPERCEPTION 217 

methods is as necessary as a knowledge of the sub- 
jects taught. The teacher must know the subject and 
know how to teach it. 

As the new matter must find its way into the mind 
by using what is already in the mind, it follows that 
much of the detail of most school text-books should 
be omitted — omitted because the mind has retained 
only the important facts of previous experiences — 
omitted because details are always embarrassing. 
The detail of geography, history, and the exceptions 
in grammar should be ignored in the grammar grades. 
Three-fourths of the dates in most school histories, of 
the names and locations of places in most school geog- 
raphies, should be omitted. At least one-half the 
problems in most arithmetics, the last half of every 
subject, should be omitted, and the greater part of the 
remaining problems should be solved orally. Slate 
and pencil should be used only when the detail of the 
solution cannot be carried in the mind without these 
aids. Only the most direct solutions expressed in 
concise language should be accepted. Hunting for 
answers under the direction of printed rules does not 
fit the pupil to accept a situation in a business house, 
nor train him to rely on himself. The routine reiter- 
ation of the minor facts of text-book subjects does not 
develop mental or moral power, cultivate the memory, 
the imagination, or the will. 



218 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

TEST QUESTIONS ON THE CHAPTER. 

1. Define the phrase, association of ideas. 

2. Give two original illustrations of associated ideas. 

3. In how many ways are ideas held together? 

4. Quote the law of similarity. Express same in your own 
words and give three original illustrations. 

5. Quote the law of contiguity. Give three illustrations. 

6. Quote the law of contrast. Give three illustrations. 

7. What is the essential thing in associating ideas? 

8. On what act does the association of ideas chiefly depend? 

9. Define apperception. Illustrate the process by giving 
original examples. 

10. What is meant by the phrase, apperceiving group? 

11. What is meant by apperceived? Illustrate. 

12. Give two illustrations, showing how the apperceiving 
group " takes in " a new idea. 

13. Show in what important particular apperception differs 
from perception. 

14. Distinguish between cramming and training. 

15. What is meant by assimilation of knowledge? 

16. Distinguish between memory recitations and thought 
recitations. 

17. How will a teacher find out whether the pupil under- 
stands what he flippanly recites? 

18. Why did the child call the first donkey he saw a horse? 

19. Is apperception a new or an old idea? 

20. In what way can any one test the truths of psychology? 

21. In what important particular does psychology differ 
from the other sciences? 



CHAPTER VII 
CONCEPTION 

The senses furnish us knowledge only of individual 
objects. The intellectual operations involved in per- 
ception, memory, and imagination deal with indi- 
vidual things and events. To perceive is to perceive 
an individual object or group of objects regarded as 
one group. To remember is to remember an individ- 
ual thing. To imagine has reference to some par- 
ticular object. Every perception is an individual 
perception, as the perception of this tree or that 
horse. Every memory picture is an individual pic- 
ture, as the image of this boat or that locomotive en- 
gine. Every picture constructed by the imagination 
is an individual picture, as the picture of an ideal 
park or an ideal fountain. 

Consciousness, like the senses, suggests to us only 
particular judgments with reference to a single fact 
or to a single individual. I am conscious of a pain 
which makes me groan or of a feeling which makes 
me tremble. I am conscious of this thing or that 
thing. Individual notions or ideas of particular 
things are the primitive basis of intelligence, the 
219 



220 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

foundations on which we build, the first story of the 
mind. Correct teaching trains a pupil to pass from 
the individual notion to the general notion. Every 
general notion necessarily implies a number of indi- 
vidual notions to which it relates. Without indi- 
vidual notions mental training could not begin ; with- 
out the power to attain to the general notion intelli- 
gence would not be human. The power to enlarge 
and extend the individual notion, to classify and con- 
sider objects in classes, distinguishes the animal man 
from the lower animals. 

Before discussing thinking as involved in concep- 
tion, judgment, and reasoning, it is well to note that 
thought is involved in perception, memory, and imagi- 
nation. Thought begins to develop in early life. 
When the child perceives he thinks. When he dis- 
tinguishes one object from another he discriminates, 
and discrimination involves thinking. When the 
child says this is a pencil and that is a book, he 
thinks. In memory thought is always present. One 
cannot call up the image of his friend's face until he 
separates it from other images by bringing into con- 
sciousness the characteristics which do not belong to 
other faces. In imagination thought is actively pres- 
ent. The mechanic who is at work on a machine 
spends much time in thinking about the relation of 
this part to that part and of the parts to the complete 



CONCEPTION 221 

machine. The ideal machine is present to the physi- 
cal eye through the mind's eye. 

In the higher processes of intellectual development, 
in conception, judgment, and reasoning, we are con- 
cerned, not with single objects in their concrete ful- 
ness of individual peculiarities, but with the points or 
characteristics common to a class of objects. In for- 
mal thinking we bring together many things under 
one head. To do this we must trace out the similari- 
ties of the things brought under the head or class. 
' ' Thinking is discrimination and assimilation per- 
formed on the results of sense-perception and repro- 
duction." When we perceive an object as a concrete 
whole thing with all its peculiar characteristics we ap- 
prehend it ; when we regard it under some common 
aspect we comprehend it. This practically is the 
difference between perception and conception. Per- 
ception, memory, and imagination deal with individ- 
ual notions; conception with general notions. Per- 
ception individualizes ; conception generalizes or forms 
general notions. 

Forming Concepts. — Concept-forming or concep- 
tion discovers similar features or characteristics in 
objects and unites them. In order to combine the 
like marks common to a class of objects, the mind 
must compare and discriminate, and comparison and 
discrimination involve thinking. The active mental 



222 PSYCHOLOGY FOE TEACHERS 

process by which concepts are formed naturally falls 
into three stages — comparison, abstraction, and gen- 
eralization. The mental act of noting resemblances 
and differences in objects is called comparison, the 
first step in forming a concept. The second step is 
called abstraction. In abstraction unimportant detail 
is ignored and the attention given to the qualities 
common to the objects. The third step is called gen- 
eralization or naming the class. The three seemingly 
separate and formal steps in the formation of a con- 
cept are so intimately related and interdependent that 
for all practical purposes they may be regarded as 
different modes of the same mental act. 

A number of objects having a certain degree of 
likeness must be brought before the mind. These 
objects may be actually present to the eye or called 
up by memory. When the objects are before the 
mind we compare them by a special act of attention 
in order to see how far and in what respects they re- 
semble each other. Having seized by an effort of ab- 
straction the several marks of likeness we generalize ; 
that is to say, we form a notion of things which have 
the distinctive marks we have detected. Out of the 
percepts or images we have brought together by a 
special act of attention we form a general notion of a 
class of things. This general notion is called a con- 
cept. The greater the vigor of mind thrown into the 



CONCEPTION 223 

act of abstraction the clearer will be the general no- 
tion. A careful study of this paragraph should make 
the process of forming general notions clear. 

How does the child form the concrete concept dog? 
He must first see several dogs. The features common 
to many dogs stamp themselves on the mind of the 
child. Next he abstracts or draws off the features 
common to the dogs and holds them in memory as a 
general notion derived from seeing several dogs. 
The child, having seized the common features of sev- 
eral individual dogs, generalizes or forms a notion of 
a class of dogs. 

Likewise the concept horse is formed. It stands 
for the animal horse in general, for all breeds of 
horses, for horses of all sizes and colors. It is 
formed by the assimilation of the marks common to 
all horses ; hence it stands for the universal or ideal 
horse. In the concept horse the individual horse is 
included, but his identity is lost, as only the distinct- 
ive marks common to his class of objects are com- 
bined in the concept horse. In forming the concept 
horse the child abstracts or sets aside the marks com- 
mon to all the horses he has seen, and combines them 
in a general notion. These several processes, con- 
sciously or unconsciously, accompany each other in 
forming every concept. The importance of this sub- 
ject requires additional illustrative examples. 



224 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

How does the child acquire the idea boat? The 
process is a simple yet complex one. He must see 
many kinds of boats. He must compare the boats to 
find the points of likeness and difference. He must 
abstract or draw off the points common to all the 
boats. He must then combine into one bundle the 
points common to all boats. He thus forms the 
concept boat. The bundle of common characteristics 
represents the general notion boat. The mention of 
an unqualified common noun always brings into con- 
sciousness the general idea of an object which pos- 
sesses a few qualities that separate it from all other 
classes of objects. The mention of an unqualified 
common noun never brings into the mind an image ; 
it brings into consciousness a general idea of a class 
of objects. The noun boat does not bring into mind 
a large boat, a small boat, a flat boat, a row boat, a 
sail boat, a steamboat, or any other particular boat, 
but only the idea boat. 

How do we form the concept chair? The image 
called up by the remembrance of a particular chair 
is a revived percept, the picture of an individual chair. 
But the impression that comes into consciousness 
when you mention the common noun chair is the gen- 
eral notion of a chair, a notion that is derived from 
observing several kinds of chairs. The mention of 
the noun chair does not bring into consciousness a 



CONCEPTION 225 

cane-bottomed chair, a rocking-chair, a rotating chair, 
or an upholstered chair. It brings into consciousness 
the general idea chair. It does not revive the picture 
of a special or particular chair because it does not 
suggest an individual chair. 

The first step in the process of forming a concept 
is comparison. The student in botany begins the 
study of leaves by making a collection of many kinds 
of leaves and noting their similarities and differences. 
By comparison he notes that some of the leaves are 
netted-veined and others are parallel-veined. Next he 
views the leaves with reference to the distinctive marks 
of each and separates the leaves into two distinct 
classes; that is, by abstraction, he draws off the dis- 
tinctive and essential marks, netted-veined and paral- 
lel-veined, and forms the classes netted-veined and 
parallel-veined leaves. The class name, netted-veined 
or parallel-veined, does not bring to the mind any 
particular leaf, but the general idea of the class whose 
distinguishing mark or marks it represents; hence 
each term is a concrete concept, a class name. (The 
class will form the concept booh.) 

We may now define conception and concept : 1 . 
" Conception is the power to think individuals into 
classes; the power to think the many into the one." 
2. "Conception is the name of the mental process 
which forms concepts or general notions." 



226 PSYCHOLOGY FOE TEACHEBS 

Concept. — 1. "A concept is the general notion 
formed in the mind by the fusion of the several char- 
acteristics common to a class of objects." 2. "A 
concept is the representation of a thing through its 
distinctive marks or characteristics." 

From the foregoing illustrations and definitions it is 
clear that a concept is a combination of judgments, 
each of which can be affirmed of ever}^ individual ob- 
ject of a class. Thus it is seen that in forming a 
concept there is involved what is known as the second 
aspect of thinking, judging. \Jt should also be clear 
that the clearness and permanence of a concept de- 
pend on how it is formed, on the completeness of the 
several mental acts which create it. The permanence 
of knowledge depends on how it is acquired. The 
value of instruction depends on its quality. 

The image formed by uniting the sensations that 
come from an object is called a percept or individual 
notion. In somewhat the same manner the points 
common to a class of things may be combined and 
form what is called a concept or general notion. A 
concept or general notion is unlike a percept or individ- 
ual notion in that it cannot be imagined or pictured to 
the mind. I can imagine or picture the individual 
dog, Fido ; but I cannot imagine or picture the idea 
dog which is presented to my mind by pronouncing 
the word dog. The following quotation from Dewey's 



CONCEPTION 227 

Psychology is a concise and beautiful description of 
conception as the means of apperceiving universal 
truths: " Conception, as the apperception of the uni- 
versal, the grasping of it in a single act or thought, 
therefore, is not a new kind of knowledge distinct 
from perception. It is the more complete develop- 
ment of the element which gives meaning to the per- 
cept, and which renders the act of perception possi- 
ble. When we perceive a book, in the very act of 
perception we classify it; that is we bring it under 
the concept book." 

Perception is not passive reception ; it is the active 
outgoing construction of mind. In perception, how- 
ever, these elements of idealization, of relation, of 
mind activity, are not consciously present; they are 
absorbed, swallowed up in the product. In concep- 
tion they are definitely brought out. The self here 
makes its own idealizing, relating activity its object 
of knowledge ; it grasps this activity, and the product 
is the concept. Conception is the development of the 
idealizing activity involved in all knowledge to the 
point where it gains distinct conscious recognition, 
freed from its sensuous detail. (The teacher will 
simplify and illustrate this fact.) 

The concept is a product of thought and has no ex- 
ternal, objective existence apart from the individual 
objects whose common points of resemblance it com- 



228 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEAGHEBS 

bines and represents. Only as much of the percept 
as is common to the objects is used in forming the 
concept of the class. We cannot refer to many 
things except by combining into a bundle the points 
or marks common to each of the many. This bundle 
of marks is called a concept. It is not individually 
representative, but combines in a notion (not an im- 
age) the marks, traits, or qualities common to each 
of the class. It is to be noted that while a Percept 
has for its subjective aspect a sensuous element, the 
objective form of which is an "Image," a Concept 
has for its subjective aspect a thought-element, the 
only adequate objective form of which is a word. 
1 ' If human intelligence were limited to representing 
individual objects presented by sense-perception, our 
minds would, like a mirror, reflect only what was 
about us at the time." 

Thought Defined. — 1. " Thought is representation 
by means of a general notion." 2. " Thought is the 
act, process, or power of thinking." The word no- 
Hio?i as used in the definition designates the product 
of thought, and is opposed to idea or image. A gen- 
eral notion is not a form of sense-knowledge ; it is 
wholly a mental product, the representative of a 
class. The student must distinguish between indi- 
vidual notions (percepts), and general notions (con- 
cepts). He should see clearly that individual notions 



CONCEPTION 229 

are the products of sense-perception, and cannot be 
made the logical subject of thinking, for we think 
only in class names. The general notion or concept 
is the ultimate product of thought. 

Thinking Defined.— " Thinking," says Dewey, " is 
knowledge of universal elements; that is, of ideas 
as such or relations. In thinking the mind is not 
confined, as in perception and memory, to the particu- 
lar object or event, whether present or past. It has 
to do, not with this man whom I see or the one I saw 
yesterday, but with the idea man — an idea which 
cannot be referred to any definite place or time ; which 
is, therefore, general or universal in its nature." To 
think is to conceive, to form concepts. We cannot 
flunk a particular man; we think man in general; 
that is, we think the class qualities of man. 

Thinking, like the simpler form of cognition, con- 
sists in discrimination and assimilation, in detecting 
differences and agreements. That is, in thinking we 
discriminate between the similar and the dissimilar in 
objects ; we assimilate or combine the similar points 
or marks. The mental product thus obtained by dis- 
crimination, assimilation and combination is a con- 
cept. To think about a class of objects we must first 
think the points possessed by each of the class into a 
general notion ; that is, we must first eliminate indi- 
vidual marks, then combine the marks common to all. 



230 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

Aspects of Thinking. — We commonly distinguish 
three aspects of thinking. These are conception, 
judgment, and reasoning. They are not three dis- 
tinct acts, not even three successive stages. No one 
of the aspects could occur without each of the others. 
Conception is the least, and reasoning the most devel- 
oped. In thinking we use the general notion or con- 
cept as the logical or general subject; as, man is 
mortal; mountains are high elevations of land. Next 
in order is the combining of two concepts in the form 
of a statement or proposition; as, horses are animals; 
material bodies have weight. This aspect of thinking 
is called judging. Next in order is the comparison of 
judgments or the passing from certain judgments to 
other judgments or conclusions; as, horses are ani- 
mals; "Caleb" is a horse, hence "Caleb" is an 
animal. This, the third aspect of thinking, is called 
reasoning. (Teacher will further illustrate.) 

Any unqualified common noun is a concept term. 
The terms boy, girl, sailor, teacher, preacher, mercy, 
piety are concept-terms. The mind quickly passes 
from the percept to the concept; as, a black sheep 
(percept) ; sheep (concept) ; the man (percept) ; 
man (concept). The concept dog can be as readily 
brought into the mind as the percept of a dog through 
the senses. The concept dog means nothing except 
in reference to certain individual dogs. The general 



CONCEPTION 231 

notion or concept, perfected through repeated percep- 
tions, is the ultimate product of thought. As a con- 
cept involves only the representation of the several 
marks or attributes common to a class of objects it 
affords only a one-sided and inadequate knowledge of 
things. (The teacher will explain and illustrate this 
fact. The class will form a concept. ) 

Conception — Attention. — Conception or concept- 
forming involves comparison, abstraction, and gen- 
eralization. All thinking is based on comparison and 
comparison is impossible without attention. By com- 
parison is meant the voluntary direction of the atten- 
tion to two or more objects at the same time or in im- 
mediate succession to discover their differences or 
their agreements. In comparing two or more objects 
to determine in what particulars they are alike or un- 
like a special effort of concentration is involved. The 
attention must pass rapidly from one object to another 
in order to note points of likeness or points of un- 
likeness. It is clear that attention is the essential 
constituent in the mental act called comparison. At- 
tention is the essential constituent in every mental act, 
the instrument of education. 

Concept — Percept. — A percept combines into a 
whole all the marks or qualities of an individual ob- 
ject made known through the senses ; hence a percept 
is a complete form of knowledge. A concept com- 



232 PSYCHOLOaY FOB TEACHEBS 

bines into a general notion only the essential and dis- 
tinctive marks common to each individual of a class 
of objects ; hence a concept is an incomplete form of 
knowledge. A percept is based on sensation, is pre- 
sentative, gives knowledge of the presence of an in- 
dividual thing, is a reality; a concept is based on 
images, is knowledge of a class of objects, is a sym- 
bol. The objective form of a percept is an image ; 
the objective form of a concept is a loord, an unquali- 
fied common noun. A concept embraces compara- 
tively few of the many marks represented in a per- 
cept. A representation becomes confused when we 
attempt to comprehend in one notion many marks 
common to a class of objects. 

The basis of full and accurate conceptions is full 
and accurate perceptions. The child should be led to 
detect similarities between things, and to group things 
into classes, according as they do or do not possess 
certain qualities. Pestalozzi says that it is the chief 
business of education to pass from distinctly perceived 
individual notions to clear general notions. In all 
this it is essential that the learner should do the work. 
The faculty of independent thinking should be care- 
fully trained. There is a tendency on the part of 
most of us to let some one else do the thinking ; we 
are only too ready to believe what some one else tells 
us and to act upon it. Children should be trained 



CONCEPTION 233 

to think for themselves, to regulate, to master, and to 
assimilate their impressions. 

Indistinct concepts are the natural results of indis- 
tinct percepts, faulty and hasty observation of indi- 
vidual objects, loose use of definitions and language in 
general, the lapse of too long a time between percep- 
tions of the individual objects whose common marks 
the concept holds as an abstract or general notion, 
and the imperfections of memory. In short, indis- 
tinct concepts can usually be traced to poor teaching, 
to cramming. The method of the teacher should re- 
quire the pupil to give in his own language an account 
of the whole lesson. This is the German method and 
has much to recommend it. " The smooth, connected 
presentation by the pupil is better than the discourse 
interrupted a hundred times by the teacher." Most 
American teachers pump too much, help too much, 
talk too much, and scold too much. 

It should also be borne in mind that the clearness 
of the percepts held in the concept depends on the 
vigorous action of the senses, and that the clearness, 
completeness, and value of all mental operations de- 
pend on interest and attention. Attention is the door 
to the mind. The teacher might as well talk to the 
pupil's hat hanging on a hook in the closet as to an 
inattentive pupil. The pupil that is not in the 
schoolroom is no more an absent pupil than the inat- 



234 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

tentive pupil in the classroom. When will the man 
who pretends to teach school while he is studying law, 
medicine or theology, and the woman who teaches for 
pin-money, learn that without the ability to get and 
keep the attention of their pupils their services are 
almost worthless ? 

Conception — Perception. — Perception deals with 
individual objects; conception deals with classes of 
objects. Every perception recognizes and retains the 
individual differences in objects ; every conception ig- 
nores and cancels the individual differences in a class 
of objects. A percept is produced in the mind by 
the reality it represents in the external world. A 
concept is a mental product produced by combining 
like points in individual objects. It represents only 
as much of reality as is common to a number of 
objects. Every vivid perception makes conception 
clearer and richer. There is a constant play of to and 
from going on between perception and conception. 
Imperfect percepts yield imperfect concepts. The 
completed product cannot be more trustworthy than 
the material of which it is made. Distinct percepts 
mean distinct concepts. By a distinct percept is 
meant a clear impression of an individual object. By 
a distinct concept is meant a concept in which the 
several points common to a class of objects are dis- 
tinctly represented. (Teacher will illustrate.) 



CONCEPTION 235 

The teacher that cannot see the individual apple in 
the concept apple, or the individual dog in the concept 
dog, is not well qualified to teach school. His individ- 
ual notions, the foundations of all mental operations, 
are too hazy to enable him to convey clear impres- 
sions to his pupils. Above all others teachers need 
the power to perceive quickly and adequately. To 
this end the teacher should ever be intellectually and 
morally awake. As impressions are apt to become 
indistinct from lapse of time and imperfections of 
memory, repeated perceptions are required to keep 
them from fading out entirely. Reviews, if directed 
by a competent, exacting, and enthusiastic teacher, 
perfect indistinct perceptions and establish new rela- 
tions with other concepts. The concept-forming 
power is restless so long as it sees common features 
of resemblance in objects. It is the classifying power 
of the mind. Classification enables us to put our 
knowledge into scientific form. The thinking mind 
seeks to combine things into groups or classes. 

Concepts — Association. — Concepts are retained in 
memory by association with other concepts, and are 
recalled by suggestion. The concept or general no- 
tion apple is immediately recalled by hearing the 
word apple spoken. This union in memory of con- 
cept and name is called association of " sign and 
thing signified." This law of association connects in 



236 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

memory all nouns with the things they designate. 
A concept may be recalled by the sight of a part of 
one of the objects which constitute the class. The 
sight of the part of an apple is sufficient to recall the 
complete concept. This form of association is termed 
association of " whole and part." A concept may be 
recalled by referring to the time and the place when 
and where it was formed. The concept apple may be 
recalled by referring to the time and the place where 
a variety of apples was first seen. This form of re- 
calling concepts is termed association of "time and 
place." A concept may be recalled by recalling 
other concepts that resemble it. The sight of a bas- 
ket of any other fruit that resembles apples would 
revive the concept apple. This form of recalling 
concepts is termed association of "resemblance." 
Resemblance supplies the means of recalling a vast 
number of concepts. 

Percepts — Images — Concepts. — In Chapter III. 
we learned that Sensations are the first things in con- 
sciousness, and that sensations produce Percepts. In 
Chapter IV. we learned that Percepts yield Images. 
We have just learned that images give rise to Con- 
cepts. As things which are equal to the same thing 
are equal to each other it follows that Sensation is 
the basis of Conception. In short, Conception is im- 
possible without a sensory basis. In a logical course 



CONCEPTION 237 

of study the individual notion, the percept, is treated 
first. In order to know things in classes we must 
first know individual things of the class. Knowledge 
is first individual and concrete, afterwards general 
and abstract. Perception and memory are associated 
with actual objects; the processes are concrete and 
particular. A percept is based on Sensation, and is 
presentative ; an image is based on Percepts, and is 
re-presentative, implies resemblance; a concept is 
based on Images, implies knowledge about a class of 
objects, is a symbol. 

Abstract Idea. — In forming abstract ideas, we ab- 
stract or draw off certain qualities and consider them 
apart from the objects to which they belong. The 
same quality may belong to several objects. We have 
seen pure snow, pure milk, tasted pure coffee, and 
breathed pure air. From each of these objects we 
can abstract the only like quality, the quality of be- 
ing pure, and regard it as an abstract idea. The 
qualifying adjective pure, from which is derived the 
abstract noun purity, furnishes us the abstract idea. 
By abstraction we are able to detach from the indi- 
vidual object the quality common to all the objects. 
We cannot gain abstract ideas through the senses. 
The senses furnish us only with concrete, individual 
notions, ideas of single objects. 

Abstract nouns are the names of abstract ideas, as 



238 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

justice, courage, goodness, purity. No one ever 
saw, heard, tasted, touched, or smelled courage, good- 
. ness, or purity. One may have seen white men, white 
horses, white cloth, but not whiteness by itself. We 
do not perceive color in general, but the color of such 
and such an object. The color of a rose is perceived 
alone; with the form and odor of the rose. The ab- 
stract idea consists of only one quality ; the concept 
always combines two or more qualities. An abstract 
idea denotes a single quality, regarded as a distin- 
guishing characteristic of many objects or states; 
hence there is a well-marked difference between an 
abstract idea and a concept. 

The distinctness and tenacity with which memory 
holds a concept depend on repeated and complete 
perceptions of the individual objects which form the 
basis of the concept. This fact bears directly on the 
work of the teacher. It urges the importance and 
value of frequent and thorough reviews. As con- 
cepts have a constant tendency to fade, to become 
less and less representative, their distinctness can be 
preserved or restored only by repeated perception. 
One clear concept is worth more in training the mind 
than a score of vague and fading ideas. The clear- 
ness of the concept dog is precisely in proportion to 
the clearness of the several percepts of the individual 
dogs from which it is derived. The individual per- 



CONCEPTION 239 

cepts which form the basis of the concept should be 
so vividly distinct that the concept can be readily 
translated into definite images. That is, the charac- 
ter of the concept or general notion depends on the 
clearness and distinctness of the individual notions 
whose common features it represents. 

As a concept is held in memory by the association 
of similar concepts, it follows that the power of the 
mind to acquire and associate new concepts depends 
wholly on the completeness and vigor of the concepts 
already in the mind. This fact the teacher should 
never forget. It should be ever present to him in the 
classroom. The perceiving and the apperceiving 
powers of the mind depend, not on the number of per- 
ceptions experienced, nor on the number of concepts 
acquired, but on the clearness and adequacy of the 
perceptions and the representative character of the 
concepts or general notions. 

Without concepts scientific knowledge would be 
impossible; without classes thinking would be im- 
possible ; for the individual has meaning only in his 
relation to the universal. All school study is a study 
of concept relations. The study of language is a 
study of the meaning and relation of concepts. The 
effort to grasp the meaning of a word exercises all of 
the conceptual powers. Before a pupil's imagination 
can fill a word with meaning he must abstract it and 



240 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

classify it. This fact suggests that the concrete and 
pictorial should precede the abstract and technical in 
school studies ; that a reflective use of words should 
accompany the study of abstract subjects. (The 
class will show how abstract ideas are formed, and the 
difference between an abstract idea and a concept. ) 

Experience. — The old saying, "Experience is a 
dear school, but a fool will learn in no other," is a 
half-truth that needs revision. No one ever learned 
anything except through experience. Experience is 
the only means whereby one may know and test the 
laws which govern mental development. Introspec- 
tion is the only means of knowing how mind acts. 
Experience is the only means whereby one can learn 
that for every sense-idea he must have had a sense- 
impression; that for every conscious sensation he 
must have had a percept ; that for every general no- 
tion he must have had several images. Experience is 
the only means of acquiring power — moral, mental, 
and physical. No one can gain experience for another. 
Experience is an individual matter. All that the 
teacher can do is to secure proper conditions for the 
pupil's self -development. Teacher, make every reci- 
tation an enthusiastic experience. 

Mental Life. — In early life the mind is concerned 
chiefly with sensations and percepts. Concepts are 
formed later, and the real meaning of conception is a 



CONCEPTION 241 

gradual growth. At first the child's knowledge re- 
mains for the most part particular and individual ; it 
is of things, of things as individual notions. For 
years the name house means the house in which the 
child lives ; the name bird means a particular canary, 
and so on. Percepts crowd in upon the child's mind 
until it is quite overwhelmed with the mass of indi- 
vidual notions. Almost unconsciously he finds relief 
from his burden by the detection of similarity be- 
tween his percepts. That is, he begins the essential 
process of conception. 

There is a natural tendency of the mind to detect 
similarity between things and to group them into 
classes. Thus rudimentary conception begins. This 
process is the first formal step in mental life, and is 
materially assisted by the child's knowledge of the 
meaning and use of language. The child's use of 
adjectives helps him to differentiate one quality from 
another and thus to group objects possessing the same 
quality. This is a definite stage in the process of 
forming a concept. Language is an aid to concep- 
tion. In early concept-forming language is the ser- 
vant; in later concept-forming language is the mas- 
ter. The teacher will not forget that accurate con- 
ception is based upon accurate perception, and that it 
is his business to see that pupils pass from distinctly 
perceived individual notions to clear general notions. 



242 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

The teacher should train his pupils to think, to 
assimilate their impressions, to master them. In too 
many schools pupils are permitted to become blind 
slaves and followers of the teachings of others. 

Expression is the soul of mental life ; it gives vivid- 
ness to every concept that it clothes in language. 
Teacher, make the pupils compose every day. 
" At learning's fountain it is sweet to drink, 

But 'tis a nobler privilege to think; 

And oft from books apart, the thinking mind 

May make the nectar which it cannot find. 

'Tis well to borrow from the good and great; 

"lis well to learn; 'tis God-like to create." 

To educate is to draw out the faculties of the soul, 
and the expression of original thought is the key to 
the educative process. Many persons, well-informed 
persons, who have swallowed loads of learning, and 
are pretentious arsenals of facts, have little or no ed- 
ucation. On the other hand, those whose available 
stock of information, of mere memory facts, is very 
limited, are often well educated. They perceive 
quickly and correctly, and apply readily. All their 
powers are developed for instant use. 

' ' Composition is the one school exercise that awak- 
ens a pupil to his highest state of self -activity." 
Every growing soul struggles to express itself, to give 
vent to pent-up thought and emotion. Child and adult 
alike need expressional vent. Expression awakens, 



CONCEPTION 243 

develops, and realizes. Expression, next to the hope 
of immortality, is the highest yearning of the human 
spirit. It is the foundation of all art, from the ear- 
liest daub of the embryo painter to the architectural 
creations like St. Paul's or the Parthenon. Further, 
the effort at self-expression is of itself the most edu- 
cative process that a human being can exert upon 
himself. A pupil cannot acquire the art of expres- 
sion by merely reciting the laws that govern the ex- 
pression of thought. Thinking is the only remedy 
for slovenly expression; revision the only cure for 
verbosity. Teachers should remember that any 
method of teaching that does not enable a pupil to 
express his ideas clearly and forcibly is a failure. 

Composition in some form should be a daily exer- 
cise in the grades where penmanship is taught. In 
the high school grades composition should have a 
very conspicuous place in the daily programme. 
Many a bright and deserving young man has failed to 
secure a desirable position because of his badly-con- 
structed letter of application. The average eighth 
grade pupil cannot write a correctly and concisely 
worded letter or a clean, strong composition on the 
most familiar subject. He has not learned to give 
expression to his impressions. He needs methodical 
training in sentence-building, in copying, in repro- 
duction, and in writing compositions on familiar sub- 



244 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEES 

jects. The special need of ninety-nine pupils in one 
hundred is not memory recitations in technical gram- 
mar, but methodical training in the use of good En- 
glish. The study of the dry facts of grammar can- 
not be interesting or profitable to young pupils. 

Frequent, written reviews in language, grammar, 
geography, and history characterize good teaching. It 
is with pencil and tablet that accuracy of expression is 
best secured. "Conversation makes the ready man, 
reading the full man, writing the exact man." Accu- 
racy in spelling, in punctuation, in capitalization, in 
paragraphing, and so on, should be required. The 
results of the written recitation should be critically 
examined by the teacher with reference to the lan- 
guage used. If the pupil's language is not pure, if 
his spelling and punctuation and capitalization are not 
correct, he should be required to write the lesson again. 
Slovenly work should not be accepted. The written 
reditation is a real test of the pupil's class standing, 
also of his moral character. It presents the pupil to 
himself and points out to him as well as others, in no 
uncertain manner, his weaker points. 

A methodical study of the primary meaning and 
correct use of words should constitute a part of the 
pupil's daily task during the whole of his school life. 
An unabridged dictionary and a book of synonyms 
should always be within reach of every teacher and 



CONCEPTION 245 

student of English. A knowledge of the correct 
forms of language avails but little without the com- 
mand of a vocabulary sufficient for the dress of the 
thought to be expressed. The teacher should use 
every opportunity to enlarge the pupil's vocabulary 
by calling his attention to the choice between words 
which have nearly the same meaning. The purpose 
of this form of word-study is to develop a discrimi- 
nating sense of the fitness of a word to express the 
exact meaning intended. The use of the right word 
in the right place is the one distinguishing mark of 
difference between the trained and the untrained 
mind, between the cultured and the crammed. The 
facts that a pupil learns in school will be of compara- 
tively little use to himself or to society if he cannot 
clearly and forcibly express his ideas. 

Accuracy in the use of language is acquired only 
through the reflective use of words in the expression 
of original thought, and by the imitation of excellent 
models; not by rules and theory. Clearness in 
speaking and writing is acquired only by thinking and 
writing. It is an intellectual quality and can be cul- 
tivated in the common schools. Threescore and ten 
years spent in analyzing sentences and parsing words 
will not materially increase the pupil's vocabulary or 
develop in him a love for literature. The barrenness 
of the merely formal in the study of English is seen 



246 PSYCHOLOGY FOE TEACHERS 

the moment the pupil is required to write a composi- 
tion. The formal cannot develop thought power, 
cultivate expression, or inspire purpose. 

It is generally agreed that English is not only the 
most important subject taught in the schools, but 
that the methods in general use do not cultivate the 
art of expression or develop a love for pure and in- 
spiring literature. We believe that the lack of inter- 
est on the part of a large majority of pupils in the 
study of our mother tongue is due to the stupefying 
methods of teaching it in many schools. Until com- 
position takes the place of mere recitation ; until our 
teachers fully recognize the simple fact, "That all 
the lecturing in the world will not enable a man to 
make a shoe ' ' ; until word-study and the use of words 
in original sentences becomes a daily exercise in all 
the grades below the high school — until these essen- 
tials of method in English are substituted for the 
present routine, little progress will be made by our 
pupils in the mastery of the structure of the sentence. 

The method of the teacher should keep the pupil 
constantly on his guard in all he says during the reci- 
tation. The pupil should be required to express in 
his own language the important facts and principles 
of the lesson. The pupil is not trained by cramming 
his memory with the language of text-books. Cul- 
ture is not a gift; it is a progressive development, the 



CONCEPTION 247 

result of the mind's own activity. Whitney says: 
4 ' A pupil may be master of every grammar and rhe- 
toric, of every text-book on English literature, and 
yet be unable to express well his thought or have an 
intelligent knowledge of poetry and prose." 

Clear thinking is a safer guide to correct expression 
than the rules of grammar and rhetoric. Definite 
convictions usually clothe themselves in brief, clear 
language. Every lesson heard in school should be a 
training lesson in the use of pure language. The les- 
son in arithmetic should be arithmetic and language ; 
the lesson in history should be history and language, 
and so with every other subject. The teacher should 
never neglect in any lesson what the pupil seeks to 
accomplish in studying another subject. 

Only as long as one humbly learns can he hopefully 
teach. No one who is contented with his intellectual 
and moral condition can lead others to build high 
ideals. The inspiring teacher is ever a student. 
Man is not an exception to the universal law of nature 
which shows that when perfection is reached decline 
begins. The daily life of the teacher should be an 
inspiring example of high ideals and right conduct. 
The routine of school exercises is too mechanical, too 
superficial to fill the soul of the pupil with purpose or 
develop in him a desire to know more of nature, 
science, art, or himself. 



248 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

TEST QUESTIONS ON THE CHAPTER. 

1. Show that to perceive is to think. 

2. Show that to reproduce percepts is to think. - 

3. Show that to construct ideal pictures is to think. 

4. Define thinking and thought. 

5. Distinguish between the meaning of the phrase indi- 
vidual notion and the phrase general notion^J^ 

6. Why is the general notion abstract? 

7. In your own words define conception. 

8. Distinguish between a percept and a concept. 

9. Distinguish between perception and conception. 

10. Prove that you know how concepts are formed by form- 
ing orally the concepts cat, boy, horse, house. 

11. Distinguish between apprehension and comprehension. 

12. Point out the distinction between an image and a notion. 

13. Show why a concept cannot be a mental image ; give 
three illustrations. 

14. Show that conception is based on images. 

15. How can obscure concepts be made clear? Illustrate. 

16. Show that a percept represents more of reality than a 
concept. Give two illustrations. 

17. Show that a concept is an incomplete form of knowledge. 

18. Why does composing awaken a pupil to his highest state 
of self -activity ? 

19. Why is revision the only cure for verbose expression? 

20. How is accuracy in the use of language acquired? 

21. Why should the method of the teacher compel the pupil 
to be on the alert in all he says in the schoolroom? 

22. Why cannot the contented teacher inspire pupils? 

23. Why does decline begin when effort ceases? 



CHAPTEK Vin 
JUDGMENT — REASONING 

In the preceding chapter we learned that a concept 
involves the reference of the universal element con- 
tained in it to a particular, definite object. In the 
concept horse, the universal element, the general no- 
tion horse, has reference to every individual horse 
whose class marks are combined in the concept. A 
concept has ideal significance with reality. Judgment 
takes the concept and says something about it. It 
makes the concept definite. Having a concept we 
may apply it to some individual thing or class of 
things, as when we decide that this piece of stone is 
granite. In making these decisions we are judging. 

Formal thinking includes conception, judging, and 
reasoning. Having formed judgments we may pass 
from these to other judgments, as when we say that 
air has weight because all material bodies have weight. 
In passing from given judgments to other judgments 
we reason. We may now define judgment, and judg- 
ing. 1. " Judgment is the assertion of agreement or 
disagreement between two ideas." 2. "Judging is 
the name of the mental act by which the mind com- 

249 



250 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

pares concepts." " Whenever we connect two repre- 
sentations with one another under the form of a state- 
ment we perform an act of judging." In perception 
we combine sensations to form ideas of individual ob- 
jects. In conception we combine the points common 
to a class of objects to form general ideas. In judg- 
ing we determine the relation between two representa- 
tions. Judging is the typical act of intelligence. 
Thinking always takes the form of a judgment or of 
a series of judgments. Judgment finds its verbal ex- 
pressions in a proposition ; formal reasoning finds its 
verbal expression in three related propositions, called 
a syllogism. (Teacher will form three judgments.) 

When we studied sensation, the raw material of 
knowledge, we found that knowledge takes its rise in 
the senses ; that without a sensory basis an idea could 
not exist. When we studied perception we found 
that it is a combining process ; that the mind works 
on the raw material and gains knowledge of individual 
objects in the outer world. When we studied apper- 
ception we found that the mind interprets new objects 
by using its accumulated stock of images. In every 
case we found that sensation is the basis, and apper- 
ception the interpreter. Apperception gives meaning 
to the new thought; it gives it existence. Judging is 
not a new act of mind ; it is merely a conscious recog- 
nition of every act of mind. (Teacher will explain.) 



JUDGMENT 251 

A judgment consists of two ideas and a connecting 
term; as, the fire is hot. In this judgment the two 
ideas are fire and hot, the connecting term is is. 
The horse is an animal. In this judgment the two 
ideas are horse and animal; the connecting term is is. 
A single judgment is a simple sentence. In logic it 
is called a proposition. A proposition is the state- 
ment of a judgment in words. /in every judgment 
there are three elements : the person or the thing we 
qualify (the subject of the proposition) ; the quality 
we attribute to it (the predicate of the proposition); 
the asserting element by which the mind declares that 
the quality does or does not belong to the subject 
(the verb). Example: "Iron is heavy." In this 
judgment iron is the thing qualified; weight is the 
quality attributed to it ; is is the asserting term. A 
judgment may be expressed by joining two concepts : 
as, dogs are animals; by joining one concept and two 
concepts: as, an orange is round and yellow; by join- 
ing a percept and a concept: as, this horse is strong. 

In every proposition there are three terms : the sub- 
ject, the verb, and the predicate. The subject is the 
person or the thing about which something is as- 
serted ; the predicate is the thing or the quality that 
limits the subject; the verb is the word that asserts. 
In the proposition, "The apple is nutritious," the 
word apple is that about which something is asserted ; 



252 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

hence it is the subject; nutritious is the quality 
affirmed of the apple ; hence it is the predicate ; is is 
the asserting word, the word that joins the predicate 
to the subject ; hence it is the copula. In attributive 
verbs the copula is incorporated in the verb. An at- 
tributive verb is a verb that asserts an attribute of its 
subject; as, the sun shines. In this sentence the at- 
tributive verb shines asserts the attribute shining of 
the subject, the sun. 

Kinds of Judgments. — A judgment is a proposi- 
tion expressed in words. A proposition may assert 
that a thing is or that it is not ; hence judgments are 
separable into two classes, positive and negative judg- 
ments. In the proposition, " The weather is warm," 
we have the two concepts, weather and warm. We 
compare them, find that they agree, and form with 
the connecting link is a positive judgment. In the 
proposition, "Ahorse is not a dog," we have the 
two concepts horse and dog. We compare them, find 
they do not agree, and with the copula is form a neg- 
ative judgment. If the concepts agree the proposi- 
tion is a positive judgment; if the concepts do not 
agree the proposition is a negative judgment. As 
has been stated, a concept is a bundle of affirmative 
judgments. Conception, therefore, is the result of 
judging, and judging is a result of conception. Each 
presupposing and depending upon the other ; the two 



JUDGMENT 253 

aspects of the thinking process are thus seen to be 
mutually dependent. 

Judgment — Intuition. — Judgments are intuitions 
or inferences. An intuitive judgment is an original 
judgment perceived by the mind immediately; that is, 
without the intervention of any process of thought ; 
as, "This stone is lustrous." " Lightning flashes." 
"All objects occupy space." Attempts at proof 
only confuse. In intuitive judgments the matter is 
given already determined. An inference, being the 
conclusion of the mind, determines its matter; as, 
' ' Heat softens all metals ; " " Iron is a metal ; 
hence heat softens iron." The judgment "Heat 
softens iron "is an inference or what is sometimes 
called a logical judgment. That is, it was derived 
from reasoning. Intuitive judgments are sometimes 
called psychological judgments. All primitive or psy- 
chological judgments are true. When one is con- 
scious of the existence of a thing he feels absolutely 
certain of it. 

Intuitive Knowledge. — 1. "Intuitions are forms 
of knowing otherwise than by observation and reflec- 
tion." 2. Intuitions are beliefs and judgments 
which present themselves spontaneously to the mind 
with irresistible evidence, but without the assistance 
of memory or reflection. The immediate perception 
of truth without reasoning is intuitive knowledge. 



254 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHES B 

Many of our judgments are arrived at intuitively or 
immediately, apart from any process of reasoning. 
Under the head of intuitive knowledge are classified 
such statements as the following : ' ' The whole is 
greater than any of its parts." " A straight line can- 
not enclose space." "Every event has its cause." 
"Time is continuous." "One cannot be in two 
places at the same time." "Space has no limit." 
Such judgments are self-evident truths. 

Judgments are analytic or synthetic. An analytic 
judgment is the expression of a judgment previously 
formed. The teacher's judgment is usually analytic; 
he generally expresses opinions deliberately, and 
those previously formed. A synthetic judgment is a 
judgment used for the first time. The pupil's judg- 
ment is mainly synthetic. From the foregoing it is 
clear that synthetic judgments add to our knowledge, 
and that analytic judgments make our knowledge 
clearer. (The teacher will give two judgments, one 
of each kind. The class will give one of each kind. ) 

Judgment — Belief. — 1. "Belief is probable knowl- 
edge, rational conviction." 2. "Belief is the soul's 
assent to a proposition without positive knowledge." 
To believe a proposition is to regard it as true. 
Belief is not a separate state of mind differing from 
judgment, but is a necessary accompaniment of judg- 
ment. Belief, doubt, and unbelief are expressed in 



JUDGMENT 255 

judgments. In judgment we represent the corre- 
sponding things as connected with or related to one 
another. When I say, "Iron can be softened by 
heat," I believe that iron possesses this property. 
That is, the judgment expressed in the proposition, 
"Iron can be softened by heat," is accompanied by 
the belief that iron can be softened in that way. Be- 
lief is an element in judgment, an indispensable ele- 
ment, because judging involves intelligence, and intel- 
ligence must believe in itself. 

Judgment — Unbelief. — As belief has been defined 
to be "The soul's assent to a proposition without 
positive knowledge," unbelief must be defined as the 
soul's dissent to a proposition. Not all judgments 
are affirmative. We deny as well as affirm. We de- 
clare that things are not, as well as that they are. 
An act of judgment is a choice between two alterna- 
tives ; as, either this boy is guilty or he is not guilty. 
Every judgment must be true or false ; hence we are 
compelled to choose between an affirmation and a 
negation. When the evidence which points to a par- 
ticular given relation is not harmonious with the en- 
tire body^ of known truth , the analytic mind assumes 
the attitude of unbelief. It must be noted that un- 
belief is only a particular act of mind; it cannot be 
universal. Universal unbelief would be unbelief in 
intelligence, and this is self -contradictory. 



256 PSYCHOLOGY FOE TEACHERS 

Judgment — Doubt. — 1. " Doubt is a lack of cer- 
tain knowledge, uncertainty, indecision." 2. "Doubt 
is uncertain or unsettled opinion." In the foregoing 
paragraphs it is assumed that the mind either accepts 
or rejects a statement ; that it must decide between 
two alternatives. It is not so. We may waver be- 
tween acceptance and rejection, and suspend judg- 
ment; that is, we may hesitate to accept either the 
one or other of two judgments. This is a state of 
doubt. Experience proves that not every judgment 
agrees with the conditions of universal intelligence; 
that is, experience proves that some judgments con- 
tradict others. The mind thus arrives at a state of 
doubt. Experience often reverses the judgments of 
early life. Growing experience usually questions. 
The enquiring mind wants evidence. 

Sources of Belief. — Experience and observation 
prove that belief is not a chance condition ; it is with 
the majority an inheritance ; with only a small minor- 
ity is it a conviction, the result of personal study and 
investigation. This statement is not a compliment to 
the methods of instruction in many schools, and in 
many of our higher institutions of learning. , The in- 
ductive method, the method of investigation, and the 
only safe method of instruction, has no charms for 
the teacher who believes that arithmetic can be suc- 
cessfully taught through the use of rules, and that 



JUDGMENT 257 

the use of good English can be acquired by analyzing 
and diagramming sentences. The hope of more ra- 
tional methods is found in the unquestionable state- 
ment that a majority of our schools are better than 
they were ten years ago. 

Sully says: "Our beliefs, and along with these 
our doubts, are products, having their conditions. 
We cannot at will bring any two ideas together in the 
mind and entertain belief or doubt respecting the cor- 
responding relations. We say that our belief has 
been generated or produced in a certain way, as by 
observation of facts, reasoning, tradition, etc." Ex- 
perience is probably the most fruitful source of be- 
lief. From the voice of intelligence and courageous 
experience there is no appeal. Intelligent experience 
revises and enlarges belief. Intelligence requires ex- 
examination, and the habit of examining every propo- 
sition submitted for belief is a good habit to form. 
Our faculties were given us for this purpose. " Prove 
all things; hold fast that which is good," should be 
written in capital letters above every blackboard in 
America. The habit of proving things should be ac- 
quired and firmly established during school life. 
Training for power is the pupil's need. 

Belief is based on evidence, but the evidence may 
vary greatly in amount and quality. The evidence 
that induces belief in one may not induce it in an- 



258 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

other. There are degrees of belief. In the sphere 
of probability belief must take the place of knowl- 
edge. In all the practical affairs of life belief is suffi- 
cient for action, and the wise man does not wait to 
know, but acts on his beliefs. In the sacred rela- 
tions of husband and wife, parent and child, lender 
and borrower, buyer and seller, teacher and pupil, 
belief must satisfy. These relations are sacred for 
the reason that demonstration is impossible. Here 
enters the principle of honor, which consists in a rec- 
ognition of the sacredness of these personal relations. 
Belief is both intellectual and emotional. It is 
part inference from the known to the unknown. 
Strong probability is ground for belief in religious as 
well as in business affairs. Absolute proof that man 
will live after his life ends here is impossible. We 
believe in the immortality of the soul, because it is 
much more probable that it will survive the body than 
it is that it will die with the body. The farmer, the 
stock broker, the promoter, act upon belief because 
they cannot know. The farmer cannot know that he 
will reap because he sowed ; the broker cannot know 
that his investment in stock will pay a dividend ; the 
promoter cannot know that his scheme or plans will 
be successful. In general terms the strength of be- 
lief varies with the associative forces which environ 
the believer. Mere belief is often an inheritance. 



JUDGMENT 259 

Truth. — Having briefly defined and discussed be- 
lief, unbelief, and doubt, we now ask what is truth? 

1. " Truth is a fact as the object of correct belief." 

2. " Truth is the name of an abstract quality belong- 
ing to judgment." What is a fact? " A fact is any- 
thing that is done or comes to pass ; an act or deed ; 
an effect produced or result achieved; anything re- 
garded as actual existence ; whether it be an object, 
event, condition or relation, and whether material or 
immaterial." A clear idea of the definition of a fact 
is necessary to a full recognition of the definition of 
a truth. Nothing but a proposition can embody 
truth. Things, states, and qualities can be appre- 
hended as real, but we cannot say that a house is true 
or a sensation is true or a color is true. Truth is the 
correspondence of consciousness with reality. (The 
teacher will mention two facts. The class will dis- 
tinguish between a fact and a truth.) 

A judgment may or may not be true. It is true only 
when the affirmation or denial which it asserts is in 
accord with the fact. When we assert an agreement 
or disagreement, and the agreement or disagreement 
does actually exist, our judgment is true and what we 
assert is true. Two realities must be apprehended 
before a judgment can be formed. Truth can be at- 
tained and error discovered only through acts of 
judging. All primitive judgments are true ; it is im- 



260 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

possible to err in a fact of consciousness. Intuitions 
are facts, and necessary facts, for without them we 
would not have anything to build upon. The special 
function of thought is search for truth. 

The opposite of truth is error, a false judgment, a 
judgment usually due to hasty and superficial induc- 
tion. " Error is a disagreement of cognition with its 
object." Feeling is a fruitful source of error. 
Things appear to be true or false as they please or 
displease. Custom and habit are also sources of erro- 
neous judgments. Prejudice, which is usually petri- 
fied ignorance, is the most fruitful source of error. 
Notwithstanding there is in all men a natural, a neces- 
sary, a devotional love of truth, they often fail to at- 
tain it, because " it hideth, and the labor of discovery 
is great." (Teacher will define prejudice.) 

Training the Judgment. — The school subjects 
which are especially serviceable in training the judg- 
ment in early school-life are writing, drawing, and 
sentence-making. In writing the pupil must compare 
his effort with the copy, note wherein his work differs 
from the copy; he must compare, judge, and decide. 
In drawing the pupil must observe, imitate, judge, 
and decide. As the sentence is the outward visible 
sign of a judgment, sentence-making is a valuable ex- 
ercise in training the judgment. In early school life 
the pupil should make statements and answer ques- 



JUDGMENT 261 

tions in concise, complete sentences. Recitation in 
the form of complete sentences leaves a clearer and 
deeper impression in the mind of the pupil than reci- 
tation in the form of words and phrases. It requires 
closer attention and carries with it greater interest 
and feeling. Training in expression should constitute 
a part of the teacher's work in every school exercise. 
The knowledge that a pupil acquires in school will be 
of comparatively little use to society if he be unable 
clearly and forcibly to express his ideas. Every one 
needs the ability to use his mother tongue correctly, 
concisely, and forcibly. 

In later common school-life, arithmetic, if properly 
taught, is admirably adapted to train the judgment. 
The value of this subject over other common school 
subjects in training the judgment depends on the 
method of the teacher in presenting it. If the teacher 
is of the rule and answer kind the subject does not 
offer any advantage for mental training over other sub- 
jects. What a pupil does in arithmetic he should do 
consciously, not mechanically. Memory or rule arith- 
metic usually fails when needed. Principles should be 
inductively developed in the class, and then con- 
sciously applied by the pupils to the solution of the 
text-book problems. Pupils should be trained to see 
that the first step in the solution of a problem in 
arithmetic is to determine what is required, and that 



262 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

the second thing is to state the different steps in their 
logical order in correct, concise language. No other 
subject offers a better opportunity to train pupils in 
the use of concise and clean English than arithmetic. 
Every clean, concise statement of the steps in the so- 
lution of a problem in arithmetic is worth several les- 
sons in technical grammar. Eequire a pupil to try 
again and again and again until he succeeds in making 
clean, concise statements. 

Within the next few years the number of pages in 
the common school arithmetic will be reduced one- 
half; rules and answers will not disfigure the books, 
and the subject will be found only once on the daily 
programme of recitations. Arithmetic is a very im- 
portant school subject. It has both a practical and a 
disciplinary value. Who will question the practical 
value of a knowledge of the study when it is properly 
taught? Arithmetic correctly taught is the very es- 
sence of intellectual training. It should teach pupils 
accuracy of statement and conciseness of expression. 
The study of arithmetic should train pupils to think 
correctly and courageously. 

Every mental process involves judging. The men- 
tal faculties are not separate entities. They are sep- 
arable only by abstraction. The mind's powers may 
be studied separately, but they cannot act separately. 
Judging is involved in perception and conception. In 



JUDGMENT 263 

perception we compare the thing under examination 
with other things and come to a decision regarding 
the things we are examining. In conception we com- 
pare, generalize, and denominate ; each of these seem- 
ingly separate acts is an exercise in judging. Every 
act of recognition is judging. In acts of constructive 
imagination the fitness of means to ends is constantly 
asserted. Teacher, strive to train the judgments of 
your pupils. Memory recitations are often only 
memory recitals — only the parrot-like quotations of 
the language of the text-book. 

To train the pupil's power of judging is to exercise 
him in forming judgments. Exercise is the only 
means of gaining power — physical, intellectual, or 
moral. The law of development is a uniform law. 
Require the pupil to describe objects, to relate some- 
thing that has happened to him ; to repeat what he 
has heard on his way to school. Submit propositions 
for his acceptance or rejection. The last suggestion 
requires the pupil to judge promptly ; it also furnishes 
the teacher an excellent opportunity to observe the 
pupil's habit of thinking. Each of the suggestions 
should be made a means of training the pupil in con- 
ciseness and accuracy of statement. Accuracy in 
reasoning depends on a clear comprehension of the 
principles involved ; accuracy of statement depends on 
the constant alertness of the pupil and the constant 



264 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

surveillance of the teacher. Verbose statements 
should be revised by the pupil until they are concise ; 
incorrect statements should be revised by the pupil, 
not by the teacher, until they are grammatically 
correct; exaggerations should be corrected by the 
pupil, not by the teacher. 

Incorrect judging is usually due to indistinct ideas ; 
that is, to indistinct percepts, images, and concepts. 
With an abundance of well-developed percepts and 
concepts, judgments are usually correct. Jumping at 
conclusions is one, only one, of the distinguishing 
characteristics of the teacher who believes that stuff- 
ing is culture. If the pupil's judgment is incorrect, 
it is due to the paucity and falsity of his ideas. Pu- 
pils are too often compelled to form hasty judgments ; 
they are not allowed sufficient time for deliberation 
and comparison. As judging enters into every de- 
partment of mental life the pupil should be trained to 
judge for himself. No method of teaching is sound 
which does not train the judgment. Compayre says : 
"Judgment, in its psychological acceptation, is the 
essential act of thought — the life, so to speak — of 
the mind. It is in the judgment that ideas are united 
and made alive; it is in the proposition, the verbal 
expression of the judgment, that words, the signs of 
ideas, are brought together and take bodily form." 



REASONING 265 



REASONING. 



1. " Seasoning is perceiving relations among judg- 
ments." 2. " Keasoning is a process of inference or 
arrangement of ideas according to the laws of 
thought." Eeasoning is sometimes called the third 
or final step in thinking. Eeasoning, like judging, is 
a distinct operation of the mind irreducible to any 
other. Elaborative knowledge is worked out by three 
processes : each of the processes is called an aspect 
in thinking. The first aspect in thinking is con- 
ception. The second aspect in thinking is judging. 
The third aspect in thinking is reasoning. 

From the foregoing facts it is seen that mental 
growth consists of a series of comparing and com- 
bining processes, each process being logically depend- 
ent on the one preceding. That is, mental develop- 
ment depends on a proper use of the materials fur- 
nished by the senses, and held in store by perception 
and memory. From the raw material of knowledge, 
sensation, to the finished product, thought, mental 
life is continued, developed, and strengthened by 
combining, comparing, and assimilating ideas. All 
thinking implies comparing one object with another. 

Nature of Reasoning. — "To reason is to pass 
from a certain judgment or certain judgments to a 
new one." That is, the mind compares judgments 



266 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

and accepts or rejects the conclusion on the ground 
of the premises. The conclusion is due to the recog- 
nition of the relation between the new and the old 
judgments. The premises necessitate the conclusion. 
An example will illustrate what we mean: as, the 
barometer is falling; therefore it is going to rain. 
The conclusion is a logical one because it refers to 
past experience, because of its relation to observed 
facts ; facts known to the observer. 

From the illustration it is seen that reasoning is a 
higher and more complex form of thinking than con- 
ception and judging. It differs from perception, 
which is the recognition of a single object, and from 
conception, which is the assimilation of the marks 
common to many objects, from judgment, which is a 
comparison of concepts, in the simple fact that it 
is the identification of relations among things. All 
meaning is through relation to something else. Any 
cognition is because of some other cognition ; hence 
relation is the very essence of meaning. This uni- 
versal fact should be recognized by the teacher in 
every recitation ; its practical recognition would tend 
to substitute interest for monotony in the classroom. 

Inference — Proof. — To reason is to pass from 
proposition to proposition with definite consciousness 
of the logical relations involved. It presupposes a 
conception of the logical relation in such words as 



REASONINGS 267 

"therefore," "because," and "hence," and a per- 
ception of their application in particular cases. To 
jump to conclusions is not to reason ; we reason only 
when we say this is so or it is not so because of its re- 
lation to some other past experience or observation. 
One may jump to a conclusion or profit by a previous 
sense-experience without any conception or percep- 
tion of the logical relation, as such. Relation is 
always a recognized factor in reasoning. Eeason is 
' ' the faculty by which we perceive and conceive 
the words, therefore and hence." 

Implicit Reasoning. — In reasoning we assume 
that the mind consciously passes from premise to 
conclusion, but in a majority of cases it does not do 
so. Ordinarily the relation is recognized through a 
particular case. We say this is snow because it is 
like the snow we saw last winter. That is, this expe- 
rience is like a past experience. The child says: 
"This wood will burn," because he has seen other 
wood that burned. A boy, having observed on one 
or more occasions that particular pieces of wood float 
in water, will conclude directly in a new instance that 
this piece of wood will float. This is implicit rea- 
soning, because the general ground or principle is im- 
plied and not explicitly set before the mind. In this 
way of reaching conclusions there is no conscious ref- 
erence to past instances. It is not necessary to state 



268 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEAOHEBS 

the general proposition on which the conclusion is 
based. Most reasoning is implicit reasoning, and can 
always be made explicit. Every perception, every 
remembrance, is a case of implicit reasoning. 

Explicit Reasoning. — Reflection on the reasoning 
processes shows that in a very large majority of in- 
stances we implicitly assume a general statement. 
The boy in the example tacitly assumed that all wood 
floats. If he did not so believe he could not say : 
" This piece of wood will float." When he is asked 
to state the ground for his calculation or to prove it 
he at once makes the general statement: " All wood 
floats." That is, he changes the implicit form of 
statement to the explicit form. This is explicit rea- 
soning or what is meant by the term reasoning gen- 
erally. Thus it is seen that explicit reasoning differs 
from implicit reasoning in only one particular. It 
discovers the universal element, the relation of identity 
which is always at work in implicit reasoning ; it does 
not jump at a conclusion. Reasoning always connects 
the universal element with the particular: as, John 
Jones is mortal because all men are mortal. 

INDUCTIVE REASONING. 

"Induction is an inference establishing a general 
proposition based on the evidence of particular 
cases." Reasoning by induction is passing from the 



REASONING 269 

particular to the general, or from a part to the whole. 
We must examine a sufficient number of individual 
cases to establish or infer a fact before we conclude 
that the rest of the cases will come under the same 
general law. We must be assured by exact observa- 
tion and skillful experiment that we do not confound 
the accidental coincidence of two phenomena with 
their constant relation. The general statement may 
be true or false, which, depends on the number of 
individual cases observed and the character of the ob- 
servation. It is clear that the value of the general 
statement depends on the quality of the thinking in 
the several individual cases observed. 

Illustrations. — Multiplying the numerator of the 
fraction 2 / 3 by 6 we get 12 / 3 , a fraction whose value is 
6 times 2 / 3 . Multiplying the numerator of the frac- 
tion 3 / 4 by 3 we get 9 / 4 , a fraction whose value is 3 
times 3 / 4 . By treating many other fractions in the 
same manner we find that multiplying the numerator 
of a fraction invariably multiplies the fraction. Thus, 
by induction we find a rule in arithmetic. 

By weighing a piece of cork and a piece of lead of 
the same size I find that the lead is the heavier. I 
weigh another piece of cork and another piece of 
lead, each piece being larger or smaller than in the 
first experiment, and find that the lead is heavier in 
each case. I repeat the experiment again and again, 



270 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

and observe that in each case the piece of lead is 
heavier than the piece of cork of the same size. 
With these same uniform results before me I can 
safely affirm that lead is heavier than cork. Thus, 
by induction we find a general truth. 

Again, the child observes that his knife, top, mar- 
ble, and all else that he handles will fall to the 
ground when not supported. He gradually comes to 
the conclusion that all material bodies fall to the 
ground when not supported. The mental operation 
which warrants him to infer that all material bodies 
when not supported will fall to the ground, is a pro- 
cess of reasoning or inference, because in making the 
general statement he passes beyond the limits of his 
own observation. The word all includes not only the 
instances he has examined, but all unobserved cases. 
Thus, by induction we discover a law of physics. 

The judgment, "All men are mortal," was found 
by inductive reasoning. As one generation has fol- 
lowed another to the grave from all time past, we 
may logically infer that in the future generation after 
generation will follow one another to the grave, and 
that, since nature is uniform in its operations, "All 
men are mortal." 

Again, the judgment, " All crows are black," is the 
result of inductive reasoning. Every crow that I 
ever saw was black, and every crow that has been 



REASONING- 271 

seen by others was black. Assuming that the crows 
I have seen and which others have seen are types of 
the entire class of crows, we may safely infer and 
affirm that all crows are black. The general proposi- 
tion, " All crows are black," reached by induction, is 
wider than any personal experience because no one 
has seen all the crows. 

Imperfect induction is the careless noticing of i 
characteristic in a scanty number of a class and jump- 
ing to the conclusion that such characteristic is com- 
mon to the entire class. One should not declare a 
man a fool because he had committed one or two im- 
prudent actions, nor assert that all men are dishonest 
because John Jones and William Smith have been 
dishonest, nor that all school teachers are incompe- 
tent because Henry Smith and Mary Williams were 
schoolroom failures. Hasty induction is the source 
of many false statements and much bad blood. At 
best our inductions must in a large measure be imper- 
fect. For want of time to observe critically every 
case to which the general statement is applied we 
assume that it is true, and believe, and act. 

DEDUCTIVE REASONING. 

Deduction is the process of following out a general 
proposition into its particular applications. Reason- 
ing by deduction is passing from the general to the 



272 PSYCHOLOGY FOE TEACHERS 

particular, from the whole to a part, from the greater 
to the less. Deductive reasoning begins where in- 
ductive reasoning ends. It takes as its basis proposi- 
tion a general truth which was discovered and estab- 
lished by inductive reasoning. 

The methodical arrangement of the propositions in 
deductive reasoning is called a syllogism. " A Syllo- 
gism is an act of thought by which from two given 
propositions we proceed to find a third proposition, 
the truth of which necessarily follows the truth of the 
given propositions." The first proposition, contain- 
ing the wider class, is called the major premise; the 
second proposition, containing the narrower class, is 
called the minor premise; the third proposition, 
affirming that the narrower class is contained in the 
wider class, is called the conclusion. In the follow- 
ing syllogism the first judgment is the major premise, 
the second, the minor premise, the third, the con- 
clusion : 

Heat expands all metals. (Major Premise.) 
Iron is a metal. (Minor Premise.) 
Therefore heat expands iron. (Conclusion.) 
Again, All fruit is perishable. The orange is a 
fruit. As all fruit is perishable, the orange being 
classed under the concept fruit, is perishable. From 
the two judgments, "All fruit is perishable" and 
"The orange is a fruit," we form the third judg- 



BEASONWG 273 

ment, "The orange is perishable." No other judg- 
ment or conclusion is possible, because the judgment, 
" All fruit is perishable," includes the fruit orange. 
Arranging these three judgments in the form of a 
syllogism, we have: 

All fruit is perishable. 

The orange is a fruit. 

Therefore the orange is perishable. 

It is clear that if I cannot assert that all fruit is 
perishable I can infer nothing. In ordinary discourse 
the major premise, being understood by both the 
speaker and the hearer, is usually suppressed; as, 
"She will talk, being a woman." The major pre- 
mise, "All women will talk," is suppressed. The 
regular syllogism is used but little in deductive 
reasoning. 

The syllogism is used in formal, deductive reason- 
ing. The validity of the conclusion, the third judg- 
ment, depends wholly on the character of the major 
premise or general proposition. Every conclusive 
judgment is derived from a sound, general statement. 
Fallacies arise from false assumptions, and from false 
or imperfect inductions. The following syllogism il- 
lustrates this fact : 

All school teachers are good men. 

Adam Smith is a school teacher. 

Therefore Adam Smith is a good man. 



274 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

This is not a sound conclusion, because we cannot 
assert that all teachers are good men. Induction 
does not warrant the statement. If all teachers are 
good men Adam Smith is a good man, because he is a 
teacher. Whatever is true of a class is true of every 
individual of the class, otherwise we could not reason 
from general to particular truths. 

The validity of a conclusion reached through a syl- 
logism depends wholly upon the major premise. If 
the general statement is true the conclusion is valid ; 
if the general statement is a mere assumption, or the 
product of hasty judgments, the conclusions may not 
be true. From these statements it is clear that we 
must turn to induction to test the truth of general 
propositions. Truth can never be attained and error 
eliminated except by acts of judgment. 

INDUCTIVE AND DEDUCTIVE REASONING COMPARED. 

As has been stated, inductive reasoning passes 
from individual facts to general facts, from cases ob- 
served to general statements. Deductive reasoning 
passes from general statements to particular cases. 
Inductive reasoning is an upward movement of 
thought from particular truths to general truths; 
deductive reasoning is a downward movement of 
thought from general truths to particular truths. 
"Each kind of reasoning leads to the other kind. 



REASONING 275 

Induction never stops with itself, but immediately 
leads to deduction. Induction and deduction are 
aspects of the same act; each occurs through the 
other, and depends upon the other." 

Inductive reasoning leads to new knowledge; it 
questions, experiments, and decides. It begins with 
individual facts, puts percepts before concepts, and 
judgments before conclusions. It is the safe method 
of arriving at a conclusion; it trains the pupil to 
question, to think, to prove. It is the proper method 
of instruction, for it trains the pupil to rely on him- 
self. Deductive reasoning reverses the natural order 
of acquiring knowledge. It begins with general no- 
tions, puts judgments before concepts, concepts be- 
fore percepts, theories before facts. 

Inductive reasoning is the slow process of acquiring 
knowledge ; it leads to general conclusions by the ob- 
servation of many individual cases. It leads the pu- 
pil, step by step, to grasp the truth that leads to a 
general statement. Through repeated perceptions of 
the same truth, physical, intellectual, and moral, the 
pupil becomes immovably convinced. He is lead to 
feel that the general statement is true. Deductive 
reasoning is the quick method of acquiring knowl- 
edge; it assumes that the conclusion is true. It is 
the method of the teachers who find it more conven- 
ient to believe than to investigate. 



276 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

Defective Reasoning. — Locke sums up his views 
of defective reasoning as follows: "1. A disposi- 
tion to accept common beliefs and statements without 
reasoning about them. 2. Permitting passion or 
prejudice to bias our views, instead of examining evi- 
dence judicially. 3. Failure to examine all the con- 
ditions that may affect the result." The school 
should train the pupil to think for himself on all mat- 
ters that claim his attention. The pupil should be 
trained to investigate for himself. No one has a 
monopoly of truth or the right to deny others the 
privilege of investigation. In too many American 
schools the memory is crowded, crammed with trifling 
detail, and the judgment neglected. The knowledge, 
if the heterogeneous stuff crammed into pupils can 
be called knowledge, is ill arranged and cannot be 
called up or used. 

Discourage intellectual guessing on the part of the 
pupil. Guessing at answers is dishonest ; it is a cloak 
to mental unreadiness and to conscious moral coward- 
ice. The teacher that permits guessing has no way 
of distinguishing a pupil's replies which are the 
guesses of the moment from those which are the re- 
sults of honest work. In many schools guessing is a 
substitute for honest struggle. The habit of guess- 
ing grows with pupils who are required to do things 
without being required to give reasons for doing 



SEASONING 277 

them. At best guessing at results is a bluff and a 
shallow excuse. Teaching which does not train pu- 
pils to be honest, courageous, and independent is in- 
different teaching. 

The mental process of thinking or joining concepts 
is called a thought. A thought is a conclusion of the 
mind in which concepts are connected — one as the 
subject of the proposition, the other as the predicate. 
Thought is the power which compares things and de- 
tects resemblances and differences. All thinking im- 
plies comparing one object with another. We think 
to relate things and by relating them we comprehend 
them. Kelation is the essence of meaning. While 
the pupil should be allowed time to think, he should 
be trained to think quickly, to decide promptly. 
Many teachers accept the pupil's quotations of the 
text-book as conclusive evidence of his knowledge of 
the principle involved. A question by the teacher 
will often show that the pupil had only crammed him- 
self with the language of the text-book. 

The readiest pupil to answer questions and to get 
answers under the direction of rules is not always the 
clearest thinker. Many pupils recite correctly and 
flippantly what they do not understand. Only what 
he clearly understands is assimilated with knowledge 
already acquired. Only what he really knows and 
can apply is useful in acquiring new knowledge. It 



278 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

is the teacher's duty to know that the pupil under- 
stands what he quotes or recites. The mere recitation 
of the thoughts of others is a poor substitute for per- 
sonal thinking and conviction. 

Thought — Language. — The correct use of lan- 
guage is indispensable to progress in thinking. 
Throughout school life the pupil should be required 
to express his judgments in his own words. Through- 
out life nothing is more important than the acquisi- 
tion of a large vocabulary of words whose meanings 
are clear and well-defined. The teacher should re- 
quire the pupil to recite in his own language. The 
pupil would in this way acquire the correct use and 
meaning of words. Too often the talking teacher 
furnishes the judgment, and often the teaching ends 
with the enunciation of the judgment by the teacher. 
The pupil is a passive listener and usually a passive 
believer. Teaching is the art of training the pupil to 
think. Fifty years ago the teacher did little for the 
pupil; to-day he does nearly everything. Teaching 
that does not train a pupil to judge for himself, to 
rely on himself, to question the unreasonable or ab- 
surd, is worthless teaching, cowardly teaching. 

The educational value of elementary logic, like that 
of thought analysis of sentences (I do not mean 
analysis by diagrams), consists in the discipline it 
affords. It can be employed in the schoolroom as an 



REASONING 279 

exercise in converting assertions made in verbal and 
written recitation into propositions in logical form, 
and then arranging the conclusions reached by infer- 
ence in syllogistic figures. The exercise is more than 
a study of the case in hand. It is a study of univer- 
sal law. It shows that the value of a syllogism, and 
the inductive process by which the major premise is 
reached, rest upon the assumption of the uniformity 
of nature, an assumption which universalizes the gen- 
eralizations of experience. It is self-evident that, if 
the operations of nature are not uniform we could not 
logically infer anything. The training of pupils in 
this simple way would do much toward the acquisition 
of a habit that would eventually make enquirers rather 
than mere believers. 

The method of instruction in too many schools en- 
courages pupils to accept the statements of text- 
books. It is not criminal to question the probability 
of text-book matter. The love of truth and accuracy 
can be developed only in one way — by questioning, 
by investigation, by personal thinking. Teaching 
that does not train the child to think for itself is 
cramming. The teacher that cannot think or dares 
not think, cannot lead pupils to think. Accurate 
scholarship and manly independence leave impres- 
sions on pupils, but ignorance and dependence are ob- 
stacles in the way of intellectual and moral growth- 



280 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

A teacher should know the subject rather than its 
treatment by a special author. Slavery to text-books 
suggests incompetency and creates distrust in the 
minds of pupils. Teachers are more courageous and 
inspiring without a text-book in hand than with one. 

The school should prepare the pupil for the work 
of life. The school is only a means to an end. The 
end sought in the study of grammar is not grammati- 
cal facts, but the correct and ready use of words. 
All need language; few need technical grammar. 
The end sought in the study of arithmetic is not an- 
swers, but mental discipline in rigid and exact reason- 
ing. Very little text-book arithmetic answers all the 
needs of ninety-nine in one hundred. The end 
sought in the study of geography is not a memory 
crammed with geographical facts, but an imagination 
filled with living pictures of the earth's surface. The 
end sought in the study of history is not a memory 
crammed with the dates of wars, and battles, and the 
biography of small men, but a feeling knowledge of 
the lives, characters, and ideals of the man who made 
the history. As this subject is usually taught it does 
not train the judgment or encourage the pupil to 
"Hitch his wagon to a star." The first duty of the 
teacher is to distinguish clearly between training and 
cramming. The primary object of the school is train- 
ing pupils for power. Culture is the product of get- 



BEASONING 281 

ting learning in accordance with the laws of mental 
development. The mental habits acquired by the 
child in early life bless or blight his whole life. 

We conclude this chapter with a brief review of 
the three aspects of the thinking process. As before 
stated, the three aspects, conception, judgment, and 
reasoning- are not different stages of the thinking 
process, but different aspects of the same process. 
Conception is the simplest of the three aspects of 
thinking ; it combines into general notions the points 
common to each of a class of objects. Judgment, or 
more properly judging, the second aspect of the 
thinking process, is more complex than conception. 
Judging compares and combines general notions, 
using one as the subject, the other as a predicate of a 
proposition. Judging asserts that this thing is or 
that it is not. Reasoning, or the third and final 
aspect of the thinking process, is the highest form of 
intellectual operations. It tests the validity of judg- 
ments. Reasoning, like the two other aspects of 
thinking, is a comparing and combining process. It 
compares two judgments and finds a third judgment 
as a conclusion of the comparison. It is well to note 
that all thinking involves comparison, discrimination, 
and combination, and that it is based on the result of 
sense-perceptions revived by memory. 



282 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

TEST QUESTIONS ON THE CHAPTER. 

1. Define and illustrate the term judging and judgment. 

2. Forma judgment by using a percept and a concept; 
by using two concepts ; by using a percept and two concepts. 

3. What are the principal sources of inaccurate judgments? 

4. What is intuitive knowledge? Illustrate. 

5. Distinguish between analytic and synthetic judgments. 

6. Name the school subjects most serviceable in training 
the judgment in early school life. 

7. Should arithmetics contain rules and answers? 

8. Show that judging is involved in conception. 

9. Define reasoning and illustrate the definition. 

10. Is conception the first step in thinking? 

11. Why is judging called the second step in thinking? 

12. Why is reasoning called the third step in thinking? 

13. Define inductive reasoning and give an original illus- 
tration of the process. 

14. Name the principal sources of imperfect induction. 

15. Define deductive reasoning and give an original illus- 
tration of the process. 

16. What is a syllogism? Form two original illustrations, 
one valid, the other invalid. 

17. On what does the value of the third judgment in a 
syllogism depend? Illustrate. 

18. Give three original illustrations of implicit reasoning. 

19. Give three original illustrations of explicit reasoning. 

20. What do you mean when you say " I believe? " 

21. What do you mean when you say "I do not believe? " 

22. Distinguish between doubt and belief. 



CHAPTEE IX 
FEELING — WILL 

Feeling is divided into two great classes, known as 
Sensations and Emotions. Feeling as Sensation is 
the increase (or decrease) of mind activity produced 
by organic disturbance of the body /whether external 
or internal. Feeling as Emotion arises within the 
body, and is the product of all concepts present to con- 
sciousness at the time. Before we attempt a brief dis- 
cussion of feeling as emotion let us clearly emphasize 
the difference between the two great classes of feeling 
by presenting simple illustrations of each class. I cut 
my finger with a knife : I have feeling , physical pain, 
sensation. A friend has lied about me : I have feel- 
ing, a feeling of anger, emotion. The first feeling 
was caused by external stimulation, hence it was a 
physical feeling; the second was caused by mental 
agitation, hence it was a psychical feeling. 

Again, I feel the pain caused by an aching tooth : 
physical feeling, sensation. I feel pain caused by the 
death of my friend: psychical feeling, emotion. The 
origin of the first feeling was in the body ; the origin 
of the second feeling was in the mind. I feel pain 
283 



284 PSYCHOLOGY FOE TEACHERS 

from a burn: sensation. I feel sorrow for a wrong I 
committed: emotion. The first feeling must be re- 
ferred to the body ; it was caused by the stimulation 
of a sense-organ, hence it was sensation. The second 
feeling was in no way caused by any physical disturb- 
ance; it arose wholly in the mind, hence it was an 
emotion. Thus it is clear that there are two great 
classes of feelings — sensations and emotions ; the for- 
mer class being caused wholly by the stimulation of a 
sense-organ ; the latter class being caused wholly by 
mental agitation. Feeling as sensation is a simple 
state of mind; feeling as emotion is a complex state 
of mind. Feeling may be defined as follows: 1. 
' ' By feeling is meant any state of consciousness 
which is pleasurable or painful." 2. "Feeling is 
any state of mind which cannot be regarded as know- 
ing or willing." (Teacher will illustrate.) 

The feelings constitute a distinct and well-marked 
phase of mind. '* Pleasure and pain make up the in- 
teresting side of our experiences." In fact experi- 
ence derives its value from its relation to feeling. If 
action had no power to affect our feelings there would 
be no reason for action. Inaction would be our 
choice. Feeling, therefore, is a subject of great im- 
portance. It is of importance, not only in itself, but 
in relation to the two other distinct phases of the 
mind — knowing and willing. 



FEELING 285 

Emotion. — There are many kinds of emotions, and 
some of them are very complex. "We shall briefly 
discuss only the most important emotions, namely: 
Egoistic Emotions ; Altruistic Emotions ; Intellectual 
Emotions; ^Esthetic Emotions; Ethical Emotions. 

Egoistic Emotions. — Egoistic feelings cluster 
around the self. Egoistic feelings spring from the 
instinct of self-preservation. They are concerned 
with the pleasures and pains, the wants and desires 
of the individual. In a large measure egoistic emo- 
tions are selfish. Chief among this class of feelings 
are pride, jealousy, love of approbation, fear, and 
anger when anything threatens the self. Any feel- 
ing which arises from a desire for self -advancement 
or to escape from personal harm is egoistic in its 
character. (Teacher will illustrate.) 

The egoistic emotions need little or no cultivation. 
Egoistic emotion is pleasurable in view of personal 
gain or advantage; painful in view of personal loss. 
This personal emotion is the mainspring of action for 
self-interest. " Take care of thyself, for no one will 
take care of thee." It is said that Heaven helps only 
him who tries to help himself. Every one should 
have enough egoistic emotion to accumulate sufficient 
money to feed, clothe, and shelter himself and those 
dependent on him, and to keep him from being an 
inmate of a charitable institution in his old age. 



286 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACEEBS 

Egoistic emotion does not necessarily mean selfish- 
ness. Selfish men seldom succeed in acquiring for- 
tune or character. 

Altruistic Emotions. — Altruistic emotions are un- 
selfish and are directed toward others. Principal 
among the altruistic emotions is sympathy for others. 
Sympathy is the capacity to understand and enter 
into the feelings of others. It is the noblest of all 
the feelings. " Its possession renders a human being 
more attractive than all other qualities combined." 
Sympathy, genuine sympathy, means action for the 
benefit of others even at the expense of pain and 
money. It means more than lip-service. Sympathy 
implies the power to remember our own feelings, the 
power to put one's self in the place of the one with 
whom we sympathize. Feeling can be interpreted 
only in the terms of one's own experience. If one 
has never felt a given feeling, a volume of good 
Anglo-Saxon would not help him to understand it. 

Sympathy is mutual in its nature. One who ex- 
pects sympathy must himself be sympathetic. A 
sympathetic feeling is the natural basis of the rela- 
tionship between teacher and pupil. Very young 
children detect the character of the teacher's feelings 
toward them and act in accordance with the judgment 
which forces itself upon them. Very young children 
distinguish between real and assumed sympathy. 



FEELING 287 

The teacher's face defines the quality of the feeling 
exercised. The giving of sympathy is sometimes a 
pleasurable emotion; sometimes a painful emotion. 
" To enter into another's joys is a pleasure; to sor- 
row with the sorrowful is to share in a painful state 
of mind." 

Sympathy, the foundation of all the altruistic feel- 
ings, means more than sentimental expressions of 
good will. One becomes sympathetic through a sym- 
pathetic service for others. But the giver of sympathy 
is a receiver also. Every genuine feeling of sym- 
pathy for the misfortunes of another reacts to the 
happiness of the sympathizer. That is, helping 
others helps ourselves. Experience declares that 
giving affords more pleasure than receiving. 

" That man may last, but never lives, 
Who much receives, hut nothing gives ; 
Whom none can love, whom none can thank, 
Creation's blot, creation's blank."— Gibbons. 

" Yet should some neighbor feel a pain 
Just in the parts where I complain, 
How many a message would he send ! 
What hearty prayers that I might mend ! 
Enquire what regimen I kept, 
What gave me ease and how I slept. "—Swift. 

Altruism is not a dead emotion, a thing of the past. 
History clearly shows that civilization is progressing 
Godward. Statistics show an annual increase in the 



288 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

number of charitable institutions. Orphan asylums, 
homes for the aged, societies for the protection of 
children are now seen everywhere. Larger amounts 
are now given to endow colleges and universities, to 
build and support free public libraries and free public 
schools, than ever before. There are more people 
now engaged in trying to make the world better than 
ever before. The phrase, brotherly love, is beginning 
to mean something. Truly did Emerson, the greatest 
seer of the age, say, "Write it on your heart that 
every day is the best day in the year." 

The teacher should always sustain a sympathetic 
feeling toward his pupils. Exhibitions of sympathy 
toward them do much to create a sympathetic dispo- 
sition toward the teacher on their part. Sympathy 
begets sympathy. Like usually begets like. Sym- 
pathy is the basis of the influence which has the well- 
being of others as its object. The sympathy of 
others strengthens one's faith in himself and encour- 
ages endeavor. There is no conflict of opposition be- 
tween sympathy for the pupil and the most rigid dis- 
cipline ; the most exacting methods of instruction and 
the usual regulations of a good school. Sympathy 
for a pupil often demands a firm hand and a deter- 
mined purpose on the part of the teacher. Love is 
the power that inspires and saves, the source of light 
and life, Love brings more light and life and happi- 



FEELING 289 

ness to the human race than all the other agencies 
combined. Truly has the poet said : 
" The night has a thousand eyes, 
And the day hut one; 
Yet the light of the whole world dies 

With the setting sun. 
The mind has a thousand eyes, 

And the heart but one ; 
But the light of a whole life dies 
When love is done.'" 
Intellectual Emotions. — Intellectual emotions en- 
ter the region of the abstract. Intellectual actions 
develop intellectual emotions. Every exercise of the 
mind is accompanied by feeling, pleasurable or pain- 
ful. Intellectual occupation is pleasurable if it is 
suitable to the strength of the faculty exercised. 
When thinking makes the obscure clear it is accom- 
panied by a pleasurable emotion ; when thinking re- 
verses well-established beliefs and gives clearer and 
wider views it is accompanied by pleasurable emo- 
tions ; when thinking invents a labor-saving machine 
or method it is accompanied by pleasurable emotions. 
Intellectual emotion always accompanies independent, 
courageous thinking. The masses seldom feel this 
emotion. 

" The slaves of custom and established mode, 
With pack-horse constancy, we keep the road, 
Crooked or straight, through quags or thorny dells, 
True to the jingling of our leader's bells." 



290 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

Who can imagine the emotion which filled the 
soul of Newton when he discovered the law of grav- 
itation, or the soul of Columbus when he first saw 
land on this side of the Atlantic, or the soul of 
Franklin when he discovered the identity of lightning 
and electricity, or the soul of Morse who first used 
electricity to carry our messages ! A little thinking 
will show that intellectual emotion is the sequence of 
mental activity, that while a moderate degree of 
pleasurable feeling accompanies mental activity, the 
full measure is enjoj^ed only at the close of the labor. 
A desire to know more is the basis of intellectual ac- 
tivity. Curiosity is the basis of intellectual emotion. 

The intellectual emotions accompany the study of 
the best literature, especially the study of poetry. 
Take notice of }'our emotions while you read and 
study the following from Wordsworth : 

"I have seen 
A curious child, who dwelt upon a tract 
Of inland ground, applying to his ear 
The convolutions of a smooth-lipped shell; 
To which, in silence hushed, his very soul 
Listened intensely — and his countenance soon 
Brightened with joy; for murmurings from within 
Were heard, sonorous cadences! whereby 
To his belief the monitor expressed 
Mysterious union with its native sea. 
Even such a shell the universe itself 
Is to the ear of faith." 



FEELING . 291 

./Esthetic Emotions. — ^Esthetic emotions arise 
from the perception of the beautiful or its opposite. 
' ' ^Esthetic emotions are the accompaniments of im- 
pressions made on the mind by external objects 
through one of the two higher senses, sight and 
hearing, and more particularly sight." The sight of 
beautiful objects and of ludicrous occurrences awaken 
this emotion. Witty sayings also give rise to aesthetic 
sentiment. Bain says: " These emotions have pleas- 
ure for their immediate end ; they have no disagreea- 
ble accompaniments ; their enjoyment is not restricted 
to one or a few persons." These emotions serve for 
enjoyment and for refinement, and are in no sense 
selfish or useful otherwise than as stated. They are 
usually classified under three heads : Emotions of 
Beauty ; Emotions of Sublimity ; and Emotions of 
the Ludicrous. 

Emotions of beauty are awakened only when some- 
thing beautiful is presented through the eye or through 
the ear. The blue sky, the rainbow, a beautiful sun- 
set, the Sistine Madonna, the Greek Slave, the song of 
a bird, the music from an orchestra, awaken aesthetic 
emotions of the beautiful. Emotions of sublimity are 
awakened by the sight of the mighty oceans, vast 
plains, lofty mountains, the starry heavens. Emo- 
tions of the ludicrous include those feelings which ac- 
company and follow expressions of wit and humor. 



292 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

A witty expression may please or it may wound — 
depending on the aim and manner in which it is ex- 
pressed. A humorous expression always pleases, or 
at least pleasure is its aim. As the ludicrous could 
arise only from incongruous or inharmonious relations, 
it follows that incongruity is the basis of the ludic- 
rous. (Teacher will illustrate.) 

This brief account of the way in which aesthetic 
pleasures arise shows that they are distinguished from 
the other emotions by the following characteristics : 
1. They are distinguished by their freedom from 
disagreeable accompaniments. 2. The mental activi- 
ties of which these pleasures are the accompaniments 
are in no way selfish or personal. The emotion which 
arises while contemplating the beauties of nature or 
the beauty in art is the sole end of the experience. 
One person or the whole human race may be de- 
lighted without cost and without destroying the 
source of the pleasure. 

^Esthetic pleasures were unknown in the early ages, 
and in a large measure are still unknown to the 
masses. The masses have little time to spend and 
little surplus energy to work off in enjoying the emo- 
tions which arise from contemplating the beauties of 
nature or the works of art. The masses are still 
wage-earners and must content themselves in provid- 
ing the necessaries of life. The beauty of the decla- 



FEELING 293 

ration, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and 
the firmament showeth his handiwork," is seen and 
felt only by those who have culture and refinement. 
The public free school is the only hope that the ma- 
jority will ever have the capacity which will privilege 
them to appreciate and appropriate the beautiful in 
nature, art, and literature. 

Ethical Emotions. — Ethical or Moral emotions 
arise only on the perception of the right or the wrong 
in human conduct. An ethical emotion refers to 
moral conduct; it springs from man's relation to man 
and carries with it a feeling of duty, of obligation. It 
is concerned, not with what one might want to do, 
but with what he ought to do. "A moral emotion 
carries with it a feeling of oughtness possessed by no 
other emotion." "Thou shalt," or "thou shalt 
not," says you ought to do this or you ought not to 
do that. Every right action carries with it a feeling 
of approval ; every wrong action carries with it a feel- 
ing of disapproval. 

This feeling of approval or of disapproval applies, 
not only to what one does, but to what others do. 
You learn that a neighbor had restored the property 
which he had obtained fraudulently ; you perceive that 
it was right in him to do so, and a feeling of approval 
arises. You learn through the daily press that an 
unscrupulous schemer has cheated a poor man ; you 



294 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

perceive that the action was wrong, and a feeling of 
disapproval immediately arises. You are tempted by 
an offer of personal gain to misrepresent the actual 
condition of the property you have for sale ; you per- 
ceive the obligation to tell the truth, and the feeling 
of approval which always accompanies right conduct 
immediately arises to support you in your struggle to 
do right. The essential element of conscience is 
obligation. (Teacher will illustrate.) 

Only those actions which affect the welfare of 
others give rise to moral emotions. The perception 
of the beautiful in nature and in art may give rise to 
aesthetic emotion, but never to moral emotion. Moral 
emotion depends for its validity on the universal fact 
that the action which gives rise to this feeling is 
always freely willed. The voice of conscience con- 
stantly says to every one " do right." Do right ac- 
cording to the light you have — to that limit you are 
held responsible by God and men. 

Feeling — Knowing. — "The relation of feeling to 
knowing is one of mutual opposition and reciprocal 
aid." The mind cannot at the same time feel deeply 
and reason clearly. That is, while feeling holds the 
chief place in consciousness, the reasoning power is 
weakened. No one can think clearly while he is 
mourning the death of a friend, nor can one feel 
deeply while he is engaged in abstract thinking. 



FEELING 295 

Thus feeling and knowing oppose one another. This 
mental truth the teacher should recognize in the 
treatment of his pupils. There are times when a 
pupil cannot study. The teacher should know the 
pupil's home and social environment, that he may 
always be sympathetic and just. The teacher should 
be able to interest the feelings of his pupils. 

Emotion also aids knowing, for intellectual activity 
implies interest, and interest is impossible without 
feeling. Emotion stimulates the knowing phase of 
the mind ; it tends to arouse memory ; it gives clear- 
ness to images, and thought traces out its relations 
more easily while there is a gentle wave of pleasurable 
emotion present. Without feeling, the knowing 
phase of the mind is wholly indifferent, and no action 
is taken; hence willing depends on feeling. As the 
mind is an indivisible unit of energy, it follows that 
the activity of one phase of it involves in some degree 
the activity of the two other phases. The accepted 
definition of mind makes the foregoing statement 
self-evident. (See Chapter I.) 

Feeling may be defined as a mode of self-conscious- 
ness, or subjective consciousness. It is the Ego or 
self that feels. Knowing may be defined as a mode 
of objective or cognitive consciousness. It is the 
Ego or self that knows. Feeling is subjective, pass- 
ive; knowing is objective, active. These two states 



296 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

or modes of consciousness are inseparable ; they exist 
only in coexistence; they are psychological correla- 
tives. Although they are inseparable they are not 
proportional. The loss of consciousness in one phase 
of the mind is gain or strength in another phase. 
Intense feeling obscures thinking because feeling 
dominates, because it concentrates consciousness; in- 
tense thinking dulls feeling, because it draws con- 
sciousness away from the feeling phase of the mind. 
We must all the while remember that consciousness is 
an indivisible unit. 

A state of consciousness that is subjectively a feel- 
ing is objectively a cognition, a state of knowing. 
That is, the same Ego or self both feels and knows at 
the same time. A feeling is subjective in that con- 
sciousness is therein limited to the pleasure or pain 
experienced by the conscious subject — the Ego or 
self. A cognition is objective in that consciousness 
is therein related to something distinct from the con- 
scious subject or self. The self as a receiver of im- 
pressions is subjective consciousness; that is, the self 
is acted upon ; the self as a knower of objects is a 
state of objective consciousness; that is, the self acts. 

Feeling — Habit. — An emotion often indulged be- 
comes a habit. One may indulge a morose feeling 
until it becomes a permanent trait. If it is indulged 
the tendency of the mind to become morose will grow 



FEELING 297 

stronger and stronger day by day until the feeling 
becomes a sort of second nature. The more fre- 
quently a feeling is indulged the sooner it will become 
a part of the self, a habit. An emotion which 
through indulgence has become a controlling habit 
can be removed only through repeated successful 
efforts to substitute its opposite.- A habit of emo- 
tion, like physical and intellectual habits, can be de- 
stroyed only through the will, only by willing it to 
cease. The tendency to feel morose may be removed 
by making a successful effort to substitute a feeling 
of cheerfulness every time the feeling of moroseness 
appears in the margin of consciousness. 
" My very chains and I grew friends, 
So much a long communion tends 
To make us what we are; even I 
Kegained my freedom with a sigh." 
The repeated experience of feelings of the same 
kind tends to produce habits of feeling. By per- 
mitting the same feeling to recur it becomes a habit. 
One who has formed the habit of feeling hopeful 
finally acquires a hopeful disposition. One who fre- 
quently permits feelings of doubt to control his ac- 
tions soon acquires the disposition to doubt, to ques- 
tion, to disbelieve. He soon becomes an agnostic. 
We know, too, that emotion has its characteristic 
mode of outward expression. When an emotion has 
become a habit its presence and influence are seen in 



298 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

outward expression. The face reveals the dominant 
feelings of the soul, and thus it becomes an index of 
the inner life. The law of habit (See Chapter X.) 
applies to habit in all its forms, and is as simple as it 
is uniform and beautiful. 

THE WILL. 

To will is to desire something believed to be attain- 
able through conscious effort. The desire to attain a 
certain end is valueless until an effort is made to at- 
tain it. Every one knows that he has the power to 
act whenever some motive for action is presented to 
his mind. This power is exerted to attain something 
desirable if it seems probable or even possible that 
the object or end can be attained. Will may be 
formally denned as follows : " The term vjill includes 
all active operations of the mind." By active opera- 
tions are meant, not only external actions or move- 
ments, but also internal acts of mental concentration, 
together with certain preliminary stages of action as 
desiring a thing, reflecting or deliberating about an 
action, and resolving to do a thing. 

Knowing — Feeling — Willing. — The relation that 
always exists between the three phases of mind in 
every deliberate action is best seen in a simple illus- 
tration. I saw in an art gallery a beautiful painting 
and experienced a feeling of delight while viewing it. 



THE WILL 299 

A desire to purchase it followed, and I bought it. In 
this simple transaction each phase of the mind played 
an important part, and the three phases acted as a 
unit. My knowledge of the painting gave rise to an 
emotion which caused me to will to buy it, and the 
willing was followed by the purchase of the painting. 
In this example knowing preceded feeling, feeling 
preceded willing, and willing preceded action. The 
motive to voluntary action, the end or thing desired, 
is the gratification of some feeling. It is feeling that 
ultimately supplies the stimulus or force to action, 
and knowing guides or illumines the action. It is 
self-evident that we cannot act for a purpose without 
knowing something about the relation between the 
action we are performing and the result at which 
we are aiming. 

The three mental states are clearly marked-off one 
from another. There is always opposition between 
knowing, feeling, and willing. The mind cannot ex- 
hibit each kind of phenomenon in a marked degree at 
the same time. That is, the rise of one phase of the 
unit, consciousness, is at the expense of the two 
other phases. Will cannot be identified with knowl- 
edge or with feeling or with a union of them. It is 
the power of the soul to direct its own activity to- 
wards ends of its own choosing. (Teacher will fully 
illustrate the facts in this paragraph.) 



300 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

Two Types of Action. — Actions are of two kinds, 
non-voluntary and voluntary. A non-voluntary ac- 
tion is an action in which will is not an element, one 
in which conscious decision and directive effort of the 
mind are wanting. Blinking when an object is sud- 
denly brought near the eye is non-voluntary; that is, 
the action is performed without the direction of the 
will. Many non- voluntary actions are scarcely men- 
tal operations at all, because consciousness does not 
seem to enter into them. Warding-off a blow with 
the hand is voluntary, because the action is con- 
sciously directed to a special end. 

Non-Voluntary Actions. — Non-voluntary actions 
appear first, and include Impulsive, Reflex, and In- 
stinctive movements. 

Impulsive Action. — Impulsive movements are aim- 
less, purposeless. Grimaces, yawnings, and stretch- 
ings belong to this class of actions. If any purpose 
whatever is felt it is hazy and indefinite. 

Reflex Action. — These movements differ from im- 
pulsive movements in the fact that they are caused by 
sensory stimulation. That is, reflex movements are 
responses to external stimuli. An inward current of 
excitation must reach the brain through the sensory 
nerves, and an outward current through the motor 
nerves makes the required response. If a bright 
light be suddenly brought to the eye the pupil of the 



THE WILL 301 

eye contracts; a loud noise makes a child jump; a 
cold dip makes him gasp ; he closes his fingers on an 
object put in his hand. In these, as well as in all 
similar movements, there is no element of conscious 
desire present. The brain takes no conscious part in 
these reflex actions. The element of will is wanting. 

Instinctive Action. — Like reflex actions instinctive 
movements are responses to stimuli. They make no 
demand on the brain, therefore the element of will is 
wanting. They are, however, accompanied by a 
vague form of desire. Sucking, cooing, and pouting 
are instinctive actions. 

Voluntary Actions. — Voluntary actions embrace 
Imitative, and Deliberate actions, the higher forms of 
movement. A voluntary action is an action which is 
consciously directed to some end; that is, the action 
is willed. The end sought in voluntary action may 
be the attainment of that which would give pleasure 
or the avoidance of that which would give pain. 

Imitative Actions. — Imitative actions are prompted 
by an impulse which is excited by the sight of the 
movement in others. In a limited sense such actions 
are voluntary, because in a passive sense they are 
willed. Adults, as well as children, are imitators. 
The teacher should bear in mind the fact that he 
stands as a model to his pupils; that his personal 
habits are closely scrutinized and may be imitated or 



302 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

copied by his pupils. He should feel that example 
teaches and act accordingly. 

Deliberate Action. — Deliberate action is the high- 
est type of action. It involves desire, deliberation, 
choice, and volition. It is only in this highest form 
of action that a deliberating will chooses between al- 
ternative courses of action. 

Illustrations. — A boy saw an apple on the branch 
of a tree just above his head. He stretched out his 
hand and plucked it. This was a voluntary act be- 
cause it was willed. The boy desired the apple be- 
cause he was led to believe from experience that it 
would give him pleasure to eat it. It is clear that 
desire caused him to act. Again, a young lady out 
walking suddenly felt heavy drops of rain and heard 
thunder. She ran into the nearest house. This was 
a voluntary act because it was willed. The lady de- 
sired to avoid a disagreeable experience. Again, 
Shall I stay at home to-night with my sick brother or 
go to the theater? After fully considering the ques- 
tion I decide to remain at home. Here deliberation 
chooses duty in preference to pleasure. Knowledge 
of my brother's sickness preceded the feeling which 
controlled the will. 

Elements of Willing. — In every deliberate action 
there are four associated elements : Desire, Delibera- 
tion, Choice, and Volition. 



THE WILL 303 

Desire. — Desire may be defined as ' ' An earnest 
"wishing for something ; longing; craving; yearning." 
' ' Desire implies recognition of present non-satisfac- 
tion, remembrance of past satisfaction, and an antici- 
pation of future satisfaction through a similar experi- 
ence." From this definition it is clear that desire is 
the elementary phenomenon that precedes action. It 
is also clear that the basis of desire is knowledge, for 
where there is no knowledge there can be no desire. 
That is, the conspicuous element in wishing, longing, 
craving, yearning, is experience. One must have had 
experience and be able to recall the experience before 
he can have a desire for a new and similar experience. 
Desires multiply with age, experience, and knowl- 
edge. Desire has respect to the future alone. One 
cannot desire what is past, for it has ceased to be ; 
nor what is present, for it is already in hand. One 
desires what may or can be. 

Desire as Motive. — Emotions are of two kinds — 
pleasurable and painful. One desires that which he 
knows or believes will give him pleasure ; and desires 
to avoid that which he knows or believes will give 
him pain. That is, feeling as emotion is agreeable or 
disagreeable, desirable or undesirable. Thus it is 
seen that desire is the motive which leads to action. 
Motives are numerous and may oppose each other. 
The right motive to action should be deliberately 



304 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

chosen until right conduct becomes habit. Desires 
arise spontaneously in consciousness when ideas asso- 
ciated with pleasure are presented. It is thus an in- 
voluntary accompaniment of mental activity. While 
desire is involuntary it is clearly under the control of 
the will. If desire could not be controlled by the 
will it would not bear any relation to moral action. 
But desire bears relation to conduct, and that relation 
is determined by the will. Desire, like physical ac- 
tion, comes under the principle of habit. 

Deliberation. — Deliberation may be defined as 
" Slowness or care in deciding or acting." To delib- 
erate is to consider duly the proposition submitted or 
the act contemplated. Deliberate judgments and 
care in expressing opinions distinguish the trained 
from the untrained mind. 

Choice. — Choice may be defined as "Meriting pre- 
ference," or " That power of the will by which one 
freely prefers and selects as an end of action some 
one good out of those presented to the mind." 
Choice is one of the decisive elements which follow 
desire and deliberation. 

Volition. — Volition may be defined as "The fac- 
ulty of will by which the powers are directed to the 
attainment of a chosen end." It is will-power that 
brings about results in this world. The highest type 
of intellect and the finest sensibility without the di- 



THE WILL 305 

rective action of the will count for nothing. Doing 
is the only true measure of purpose and character. 
Character is developed by action, not by passive be- 
liefs. The ideal becomes approximately real only 
through effort. The school should train the pupil to 
believe and to know that mental power and personal 
worth depend on high ideals and effort, and that 
character, the highest result of training and disci- 
pline, is the product of right thinking and right action. 

Will — Attention. — Every deliberate voluntary ac- 
tion involves attention. In order to realize the end 
desired the will must first decide to make an effort to 
realize it ; hence the mind must be fixed on it. In 
fact, willing is a form of attending. Attention is the 
simplest and the most rudimentary form of willing. 
It determines choice when alternatives are presented. 
One immediate issue of effort is attention. Attention 
determines both mental and physical action. 

We can control our desires, and, therefore, our ac- 
tions by a voluntary withdrawal of attention from 
those ideas which excite improper or immoral desires, 
and by refusing to grant them the indulgences of at- 
tention when excited. That is, by an effort of the 
will we can give attention to a desire or refuse to en- 
tertain it, and thus choice is determined by attention. 
An illustration will make this general truth clear. A 
father gave his son one hundred dollars as a Christ- 



306 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

mas present and said to him: "Son, this sum of 
money I give to you to spend as you choose." The 
son replied : "I would like to buy a number of books 
for my library. I need rest, and would enjoy a vaca- 
tion trip. I will think about the two things and re- 
port my choice in a day or two." The only question 
the son was called on to decide was, which of these 
two things did he desire most. Of course the son 
could cause the desire for either object to become the 
controlling desire by centering his attention on it. It 
is clear that the action which received the greater 
amount of attention was his choice. 

Willing determines what we shall know ; it condi- 
tions and controls voluntary attention. One can con- 
centrate his attention on this object or on that ob- 
ject. This he can do at will and by the power of 
will. Thus the will selects and determines what one 
shall think about, and in this way determines life's 
ideals and realities. The special function of the will 
is to control attention. Voluntary attention occurs 
when the self by an effort of the will is focused on a 
given object. Attention with effort is all that any 
voluntary act implies. Will is attention plus effort. 
The achievement of will is to focus attention on a dif- 
ficult task and hold it firmly before the mind. Will 
and effort have marked the personality of every great 
man of the past, and will always distinguish the doer 



THE WILL 307 

from the mere believer and observer. The men who 
succeed are those who work with a will born of cour- 
age and positive, personal conviction, and whose ener- 
gies are absolutely tireless. 

It is will that makes the human personality, which 
really develops the Ego ; it is through the will that 
we are finally ourselves. " Our authority over our- 
selves is maintained only by continual exercise of the 
will. The measure of this authority is also that of 
human dignity, because this authority is the man 
himself." It is in decision that the will resides. 
From these facts it follows that the best man is he 
who has mind, heart, and character. The third and 
most important quality in the make-up of a man is 
character, and a good character is impossible without 
a firm will — a will that can resist temptation, a will 
that governs itself, a will that pursues its aim with an 
inflexible tenacity, a will which will not allow itself to 
be changed by the suggestions of others or by solici- 
tations of the passions. 

Will — Habit. — Habit is acquired action and may 
for a time successfully resist the efforts of the will to 
correct it. It is through the directive power of the 
will that habit is formed, that habit in a sense be- 
comes a second nature. It is through the will that 
tendency to physical action is formed, and this tend- 
ency mayreact upon the will in an effort to dislodge 



308 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

an improper habit. This fact should impress the 
teacher with the importance of regularity and order 
in the work of the school. The principle of habit is 
involved in all the acts of will. A decision in favor 
of rioht action tends to make the next decision in a 
struggle between right and wrong easier and more 
satisfactory. Only when duty to others has become 
habit, when it has become the ruling motive of ac- 
tion, can it be said that a good character has been 
established. (Teacher will illustrate.) 

One good habit acquired by persistent efforts of 
the will is worth a long ton of text-book facts. The 
first deliberate victory of the will in dislodging a bad 
habit is the first step toward the realization of the 
ideal self through effort. It is clearly the teacher's 
duty to assist the weak-willed pupil to develop will- 
power. The teacher can stimulate and encourage the 
weak-willed pupil by giving him indirect help, sug- 
gestive help — never direct help. Direct help is a 
gift. Effort develops, enlarges, and enriches. The 
teacher that tells hinders. Mere information is a very 
cheap thing. 

Actions often repeated become progressively easier 
even when they do not lose their voluntary character. 
Eventually they become habitual and constitute an 
element in character, good or bad. It is the teacher's 
duty to warn the pupil against first steps in wrong di- 



THE WILL 309 

rections. It is the first act that becomes habit if 
many times repeated. It is the teacher's duty to see 
that the first wrong act is not repeated. The young 
soon lose their freedom and become slaves to bad 
habits if not constantly guarded by parents and 
teachers. The soul, endowed with freedom, may by 
voluntary acts put itself under bondage. Education 
means individual freedom or it means but little. Ha- 
bitual acts, like habitual feelings, consolidate into 
character, good or bad. 

Every perfect habit is formed and maintained by 
the will; hence habit-forming is training the will. 
Every perfect action, mental or physical, indicates a 
habit. It is the teacher's duty to insure care and ac- 
curacy in first movements, the principle of habit will 
complete the task. It is also the teacher's duty to 
supply suitable opportunities for the pupil to exercise 
the faculty that needs cultivation. Education and in- 
struction should enable the pupil to control his im- 
pulses and thus his actions. Good habits formed in 
early life are the only bulwark against the tempta- 
tions of later life. A good habit becomes second na- 
ture in time, and thus a safe and reliable friend. 

The teacher that has the slightest idea of the value 
and force of habit is never blind to the physical atti- 
tude of the pupil during the recitation. The pupil 
should be trained to sit still, stand still, sit erect, 



310 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

stand erect. He should not be permitted to hunt for 
buttons in the bottom of trousers' pockets, because 
every conscious physical act demands more or less at- 
tention. He should be trained to govern the tone 
and volume of his voice and to speak deliberately and 
distinctly. He should be trained in good manners 
first, then in the correct use of his mother tongue. 
After these two essentials are well established there 
will be ample time for the work on the traditional 
programme. The control of physical action leaves in 
consciousness a distinct idea of the end to be reached ; 
the movement or action becomes localized ; and to the 
extent that the act becomes definite, less and less 
stimulus is required to set up the motion. In this 
respect physical action is governed by the law of 
habit. Train a boy until he is polite unconsciously. 
He who grows up without acquiring the habit of 
politeness is handicapped for life. 

Dr. Schaffer says: " Fortunately, the law of habit 
here comes into play to lighten the conscious effort 
of the will. When the intellect, through the guid- 
ance of a conscious will, has acted according to the 
forms of thought in which the logician can find no 
fallacies, it tends to act again in that way, and next 
time a less expenditure of conscious effort is required. 
The thinking of the teacher, if correct and logical, 
tends to beget correct and logical habits of thought 



THE WILL 31 1 

on the part of the pupil. It is a piece of good for- 
tune to fall under the dominating influence of a tow- 
ering intellect." 

Habit bears the same relation to the will that mem- 
ory bears to the intellect. A mind that has fre- 
quently erected a certain class of representatives into 
objects of desire and emphasized the desire or craving 
by frequent efforts to realize them, has acquired a 
tendency to go on desiring in the same directions. A 
child wills to do a certain action ; each repetition of 
that action requires a similar willing. In this way 
desire comes under the principle of habit, for every 
time the child wills the same desire, less and less 
effort is involved in the reproduction of the desired 
representation. 

Weak Will. — A weak will is usually characterized 
by physical and mental indolence because of a lack of 
purpose and connected ideas. Weak wills are marked 
by spasmodic efforts, spasmodic attention, spasmodic 
interest, spasmodic action, because the essential ele- 
ments — purpose, firmness, and perseverance — are 
wanting-. Eesolution is characterless if not accom- 
panied by effort. Any one can resolve, but not every 
one can do what he resolves to do. A weak will is us- 
ually accompanied by moral weakness, because ideas 
of right and virtue are complex and are seen and felt 
only through long, concentrated mental efforts of dis- 



312 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

crimination and choosing. The lack of concentration 
is the radical defect of a weak will. 

Strong Will. — A strong will is marked by resolu- 
tion and perseverance. Perseverance reveals the 
strength of the resolution and carries with it the feel- 
ing of satisfaction which always accompanies lawful 
and virtuous effort. A strong will is characterized 
by purpose, effort, and trains of associated ideas. 
Associated ideas tend to force effort and thus 
strengthen the will. A strong will is marked by the 
essentials, a strong personality, firmness, conviction, 
and courage. The man who is able to overcome his 
inclinations is said to possess great will-power. The 
man who is able to overcome his disinclinations and 
immediately carries out his desirable impulses also 
has great will-power. The foregoing points of differ- 
ence describe the two types of will — weak wills and 
strong wills. A little thinking will show the youngest 
reader of this book that the will is to the physical, 
intellectual, and moral life of man what the governor 
is to the steam engine. 

With the strong-willed man defeat is education, 
the first step toward the realization of an ideal. 
"Will," says Prof. James, "is attention to an 
ideal." The world needs men who believe in ideals, 
and who through effort try to realize them; the 
world needs men of conviction and purpose, men of 



THE WILL 313 

decision and prompt and resolute action. It is the 
strong-willed man that changes a thought into a deed, 
that compresses an ideal into a reality and sends it 
ringing; through the centuries. What would be the 
condition of the highways of life if men of ideals, 
courage, and conviction did not drive over them occa- 
sionally? (Teacher will explain.) 

Training of the Will. — "The phrase, 'Training 
of Will,' means the exercising and strengthening it 
by the various agencies of command, encourage- 
ment, and instruction." Experience, as well as ob- 
servation, proves that the power of self -direction is 
capable of cultivation. Experience and observation 
also prove that he who does not exercise his self -di- 
recting power soon degenerates into the mere creature 
of circumstance and is swept along like a vessel with- 
out a helmsman. Weak wills can be strengthened; 
balky wills encouraged; explosive wills may become 
deliberate. The deliberateness of an act is opposed 
to its impulsiveness. The importance of the teacher's 
task in training the wills of his pupils cannot be over- 
estimated. (Teacher will illustrate.) 

Will becomes persevering only by concentration of 
effort. A persistent will is the only will that wins or 
that develops a strong character. Action must per- 
sist in one choice to accomplish anything. Truly has 
Emerson written : ' ' The one prudence of life is con- 



314 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

centration; the one evil, dissipation." In many ways 
the teacher can help the pupil to realize consciously 
this great truth. Every successful effort tends to 
make the next effort in the same direction easier and 
more definite, and this principle of habit not only en- 
courages further effort in the same direction, but it 
develops firmness — an element in character. The old, 
old command, "If you do not at first succeed, try 
again," is still worthy of a place among schoolroom 
mottoes. (Teacher will illustrate.) 

The self -activity of the pupil should be encouraged 
and fostered in every way possible by both parent 
and teacher. Lack of effort on the part of pupils is 
often the fault of teachers. The pupil should be en- 
couraged to try again, not discouraged by being told. 
Mental effort if properly guided is always pleasurable. 
It is the teacher's duty to inspire, to encourage the 
pupil to rely upon himself ; that success is a result 
achieved by self -effort. The teacher must guaid 
against overtasks and inappropriate tasks. If the 
pupil is overtasked or assigned inappropriate tasks he 
will soon become discouraged, and his will will grad- 
ually grow weaker and weaker. 

As the pupil advances in years he will see more and 
more clearly that education is self -education. Day 
by day the teacher can in many ways teach and illus- 
trate this fact. Every recitation affords him an op- 



THE WILL 315 

portunity to train the pupil to rely on himself. Every 
recitation affords the tactful teacher an opportunity 
to show the weak-willed pupil the value as well as the 
result of self-help. Every class has one or more pu- 
pils who are ever ready and happy when called on to 
solve a problem, analyze a sentence, or explain a prin- 
ciple. Ever}' recitation affords the purposeful teacher 
an opportunity to lead his class to see that education 
is a progressive self -development, and that culture is 
an acquisition, not a gift. 

Self-Control. — Every one's experience asserts that 
feeling can be controlled by the will, and thus mus- 
cular movements, the visible manifestations of impulse 
and feeling, can be controlled. The real test of self- 
control is to hold the lower impulse in check by a 
higher one. The teacher's task is to assist the pupil 
to control his feelings and thus prevent unsightly and 
unpleasant exhibitions of passion. " Outwardly the 
will manifests itself in actions and deeds ; inwardly it 
controls the thoughts." Will has to do with action, 
mental and physical. A man's will is the man. The 
will is the very core of one's personality; it is the 
will that decides and the decision describes what one 
really is. Man has the power of determining himself. 

Psychologists agree that we can exercise motor con- 
trol over our muscular activities. We can check that 
clenching of the fists, setting of the teeth, and general 



316 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

tightening up of the muscles, which anger as re-pre- 
sentative tends to call forth, and by checking these 
physical signs of passion we chill the emotion and 
gain a victory through the will. We cannot control 
our emotions when death suddenly snatches from us 
a dear relative or friend, but we can exercise self- 
control over the expression of our grief. A young 
man may not be able to control the direction of his 
thoughts while being entertained at a parlor social, 
but he can control his habits of motion. He can sit 
erect, stand erect, and keep his hands from playing 
with his watch-chain or moustache. 

To control is to exercise a directing, restraining, or 
governing influence over one's physical, intellectual, 
and moral life. To control one's emotions and ac- 
tions is to guide them consciously in the light of pre- 
vious experiences. That habits of self-control can be 
acquired is not longer doubted. The power to control 
all kinds of actions is a process of natural growth. It 
is the result of training, of long-continued, victorious 
willing. It is the office, privilege, and duty of the 
teacher to assist and encourage the pupil in the acqui- 
sition of habits of self-control. 

Will — Ideals. — " Will is the source of ideals and 
of their realization." As will is the mind's power of 
directing the self or of acting for self-chosen ends, it 
follows that will is the power of determining what the 



THE WILL 317 

self may become. That is, every one has the power 
to set up an ideal of what he would become and the 
approximate realization of the ideal depends only on 
himself. Man determines his place in society and in 
the world by setting up a high or a low ideal as a mo- 
tive. Every rational human being wills an ideal self; 
and the ideal thus becomes the character builder, 
good or bad. Ideals are seldom realized, but the 
effort to realize them determines one's character. 
"A noble aim faithfully kept is as a noble deed." 
If one man chooses a low ideal and another chooses a 
high ideal, the sole answer to the question, why each 
chose as he did, is that one willed to become good, 
the other willed to become bad, or rather to remain 
bad. "This ideal of self-realization depends for its 
form upon the self, the will, and upon that alone." 

Will cooperates with intellect, but it controls intel- 
lect; will derives its aim from feelings, but it controls 
the feelings. Will is thus seen to be essential self — 
the choosing;, the determining- element of mind. In 
other words, will is the self realizing itself. Will is 
the power of the soul that presents self to itself, the 
activity which creates and realizes its own ideals. 
Will is the core of personality, the distinguishing 
characteristic which marks the life of the doer from 
the life of the theorist or mere believer. 

Self- Reliance. — " Trust" thyself : every heart vi- 



318 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

brates to that iron string." The pupil should be 
trained to rely on himself. Many teachers help too 
much. Much help weakens the pupil's will and 
trains him to look for help when he should not 
receive it. Telling a pupil what he can find out him- 
self with reasonable effort is training him for a mere 
believer throughout life. Most indolent pupils can 
be changed into studious ones by persistent tact and 
exact demands on them by the teacher during every 
recitation. Spasmodic efforts on the part of the 
teacher will not redeem an indolent pupil, nor will 
spasmodic efforts on the part of the pupil establish 
the study habit. Methodical persistence yields suc- 
cess. Ideals depend on the will; realities depend on 
ideals; hence it is the teacher's duty to train and 
strengthen the will of his pupils and to cultivate in 
them a love for what is true, beautiful, and good. He 
should remember that will is attention to an ideal. 

Without the quiet which characterizes good disci- 
pline, efficient instruction is impossible. Without the 
quiet which inclines the pupil to think and protects 
him in his effort, the school is a failure. We do not 
mean a graveyard quiet. We mean control. The 
teacher will remember that control is a faculty that 
deals with motor activities. Overgovernment is a 
form of tyranny and is indisputable evidence of a 
weak teacher. Excessive discipline tends to reaction 



THE WILL 319 

when the restraint is removed. Too much authority 
robs the pupil of that independent growth which de- 
velops self-control. The child is more than a ma- 
chine. He is a sensitive, sensible, and impulsive 
organism, a feeling, thinking reality. 

It is as much a teacher's duty to discipline pupils 
as it is to teach them arithmetic and geography. A 
firm, uniform, corrective discipline is the most valua- 
ble form of instruction. The noisy, boisterous pupil 
should be trained to be quiet and temperate. The in- 
dolent pupil should be led by easy and exacting 
means to see himself as others see him. This the 
tactful and persevering teacher can do by requiring 
him to exhibit himself during every recitation. He 
should be given only such help as will help him to 
help himself. In his training the teacher should 
study the disposition of each pupil and prescribe the 
proper remedy. No two pupils are in all respects 
alike. Instruction should accustom the indolent pu- 
pil to diligence, for by diligence alone can he hope to 
develop the powers slumbering within him. 

Artificial restraint, the restraint of lawful authority, 
is a valuable means in training the will. The com- 
mands of those in authority must be obeyed or the 
penalties attached to the disregard of them enforced. 
The first stage in the growth of a good character is 
the formation of the habit of obedience. To this end 



320 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

the child must be uniformly obedient. Spasmodic 
obedience is not obedience. At best it is a compro- 
mise and encourages in the young a feeling of disre- 
spect for authority. It is the teacher's duty to re- 
quire, to compel if necessary, immediate and unmodi- 
fied obedience. The pupil must obey without protest 
or hesitancy ; if he does not, the penalty attached to 
disobedience should be inflicted. 

As every conscious, physical act requires more or 
less attention, it is evident that a pupil should stand 
still or sit still during a recitation. A pupil cannot 
play with his pocket-knife or coat-tail without with- 
drawing somewhat of his attention from the subject of 
the lesson. Undivided and feeling attention stamps 
upon the mind lasting impressions. The teacher 
that does not become alarmed at seeing a number 
of inattentive pupils in the class is ignorant of the 
fundamental laws of mental development and indiffer- 
ent in regard to the pupil's opportunity as well as to 
the responsibility of his position. A quiet school- 
room invites study. The mind likes quiet and likes 
to work. The only way to keep order is to check the 
first signs of disorder. Eefer to the very first indica- 
tion of disorder in a voice and manner that carry 
meaning to the pupil or class. The emphasis of voice 
and action that accompanies purpose is ever present 
in the work of the successful teacher. 



THE WILL 321 

Will — Character. — We inherit a nature, but ac- 
quire a character. Character is that quality or com- 
bination of qualities which distinguishes one man 
from another. Character is individuality, good or 
bad. Truly "Life is a quarry out of which we 
are to mould and chisel a character." The golden 
age, thank God, is in the to-morrow, not the yester- 
day. The young should be led to see that life is op- 
portunity. Usually the word character stands for 
good character. A good character means a moral 
and virtuous condition of mind, and such a disposi- 
tion of the will as will subserve the ends of morality. 
The law for the will, therefore, is the moral law. 
Experience, as well as psychology, proves that man 
has an intellect capable of apprehending a general 
rule of conduct; that his Sensibility supplies ethical 
emotions ; and that he possesses Will, the faculty of 
self -direction which enables him to observe this gen- 
eral rule. What, then, has will to do with character? 
Briefly stated the reply is, will is the character-builder, 
that man is what he wills he is or what he wills to be- 
come. Good character is the end of discipline and 
self-control, and to help in its formation is the most 
important part of the teacher ' s work. Moral character 
consists in certain tendencies or habits acquired 
through the power and under the direction of will. 



322 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

TEST QUESTIONS ON THE CHAPTER. 

1. Define feeling as sensation and give two illustrations. 

2. Define feeling as emotion and illustrate the definition. 

3. Define egoistic emotion and show how it arises. 

4. Define altruistic emotion and show how it arises. 

5. Define intellectual emotion and show how it arises. 

6. Define aesthetic emotion and show how it arises. 

7. Define ethical emotion and show how it arises. 

8. Show that the ego both feels and knows. 

9. Show that knowing opposes feeling, and that feeling 
opposes knowing. Give two original illustrations. 

10. What is meant by the phrase, subjective consciousness? 

11. What is meant by the phrase, objective consciousness? 

12. Define will ; then paraphrase the definition. 

13. Define non- voluntary action. Give three illustrations. 

14. Define voluntary action. Give three illustrations. 

15. How many kinds of non -voluntary actions are there? 

16. Define and illustrate each form of non -voluntary action. 

17. What is meant by the phrase, voluntary action? 

18. What factors are involved in a deliberate action? 

19. What is meant by the phrase, elements of willing? 

20. Define desire, deliberation, choice, volition. 

21. State concisely the relation between will and attention. 

22. What is meant by the phrase, weak will? Illustrate. 

23. What is meant by the phrase, strong will? Illustrate. 

24. What is meant by the term, self-control? 

25. What is meant by the phrase, training of the will? 

26. In what way is the will responsible for one's ideals? 

27. In what way is the will the character -builder? 



CHAPTER X 
HABIT 

Almost every one has an idea of what the word 
habit means, and how a habit is acquired. Few, per- 
haps, have a correct idea of the strength of habit. 
Habits are acquired tendencies; a good habit is a 
priceless acquisition ; a bad habit is a personal reflec- 
tion. Habit is not instinct. Habit is acquired; in- 
stinct is bestowed. Habit has a definite beginning; 
instinct has no such beginning. Habit means action ; 
it means doing something ; and as one is known by 
his actions, habit is a character builder. As habit is 
acquired, every rational human being is responsible 
for the kind of habits he acquires and practices. 

There are as many different kinds of habits as 
there are physical and mental functions. Habits are 
formed by repetition, and not only does every animate 
thing in nature seem to form habits, but the effects 
of repetition may also be found in inanimate things. 
Every musician knows the advantage of having string, 
reed, and brass instruments "broken in" by an ar- 
tist. Let a man do a certain thing once in a certain 
way and it is easier for him to do it that way a second 
323 



324 PSYCHOLOGY FOE TEACHEBS 

time. If a nerve once carry a certain kind of impres- 
sion inward it will be easier for a similar impression 
to follow the same path over that nerve than to 
travel along a new nerve route. Similarly, if the im- 
pulse of a thought be carried outward along certain 
nerves and expresses itself in the action of certain or- 
gans or muscles, these same nerves, organs, and mus- 
cles will more easily respond to similar thought im- 
pulses a second time than will other nerves, muscles, 
and orsrans. The laws of habit enslave the masses. 
What custom wills they do. 

" To follow foolish precedents, and wink 
With both eyes, is easier than to think." 

Watch the workings of a river in forming its chan- 
nel ; it will be seen that if left to itself it invariably 
takes the course which offers the least resistance. If 
checked and directed, however, it may be made to 
enter channels where, if unrestrained, it would not 
run. Similarly in man, thought impulses, if uninter- 
rupted, will form paths in the brain and nerves and 
become habitual in expression in outward actions. 
But if controlled and directed by the will such 
thought impulses may be made to open up new chan- 
nels in the nerves, or change those already formed and 
find outward expression in different forms of action. 

We will now examine some formal definitions of 
habit : 1 . ' ' Habit is a tendency toward an action or 



HABIT 325 

condition which by repetition has become sponta- 
neous." 2. "Habit is a fixed tendency to think, 
feel or act in a particular way under special circum- 
stances." 3. "That condition of mind or body 
which is manifested in the tendency to unconscious 
repetition of acts or states is known as a habit. ' ' 

Law of Habit. — Every time we perform an action, 
mental or physical, we have a stronger tendency to 
perform it than before and greater facility in per- 
forming it. A few simple illustrations will verify the 
law. The child, at first able to walk only a step or 
two with great difficulty ; the bicyclist, at first com- 
pelled to give his entire attention to the wheel ; the 
learner on the piano, at first slowly picking out the 
notes ; the typewriter, at first slowly picking out the 
lettered keys ; these all soon acquire skill by repeat- 
ing the same movements. A lesson gone over with 
care many times can be repeated without the book, 
because the mind has acquired the habit of creating 
certain states of consciousness in a given order; 
hence the repetition of the lesson becomes progres- 
sively easy. The curious gestures, ways of standing, 
ways of holding the hands, attitudes in general, and 
modes of speech are due to the law of habit. Expe- 
rience proves that when an action, mental or physi- 
cal, becomes habit, the attention required to perform 
it is practically zero. That is, each repetition of an 



326 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

action demands a decreasing effort of the will. This 
every day fact should ever be present in all the 
teacher does or permits to be done in the schoolroom. 
" How use breeds habit in a man." 

Habits of motion are confined exclusively to the 
physical system and are formed, as are all other 
habits, by repetition. A habit of motion may be de- 
veloped in any muscle or group of muscles, con- 
sciously or unconsciously. Habits of motion are ob- 
served in such things as walking, biting the nails, 
scratching the head, facial expression, winking, smil- 
ing, the technique of piano playing, sewing, knit- 
ting, violin playing, writing, and so on. Some of 
these habits are formed by the repetition of a con- 
scious effort, while others are formed unconsciously by 
imitation or by accident. To dislodge an undesirable 
habit of motion another habit must be formed to take 
its place. The unsightly habit must not be permitted 
to return even occasionally. In regard to this impor- 
tant point Prof. James says: "Never suffer an ex- 
ception to occur till the new habit is securely rooted 
in your life." (Teacher will illustrate.) 

Nothing is better known than the fact that bodily 
movements become easier by repetition. The series 
of movements in the practice of any occupation re- 
quiring dexterity, as playing a musical instrument, 
soon follow in order with ease and regularity. The 



HABIT 327 

theory is that every bodily movement creates a ten- 
dency in the structure of the reflex nerve-centers to 
repeat the same movement or series of movements. 
Every physical act becomes tendency and is more 
easily performed the second time than it was at first, 
and the oftener it is repeated the less conscious atten- 
tion is required. Dewey says: " The habitual act of 
walking thus occurs automatically and mechanically. 
By saying that it is mechanical we mean that there 
exists little consciousness of the process involved, and 
of the relation of the means, the various muscular ad- 
justments to the end — locomotion. The various 
steps of the process follow each other as uncon- 
sciously as the motions of a loom in weaving." 

As the body is the servant of the mind, it follows 
that the laws which govern bodily movements and 
states govern mental movements and states. As the 
mind directs the body while the body is acquiring 
skill or habit, the mind itself acquires habit. Mental 
images of objects frequently seen are readily recalled ; 
the indulgence of a train of thought, whether of 
pleasant or unpleasant things, tends to repeat itself 
and to grow into habit. That is, every mental act 
becomes a tendency and is easier to perform the 
second time than it was at first, and if often repeated 
becomes a habit. That habit develops all the active 
operations is seen in every-day life. This fact is suf' 



328 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

ficient to keep the teacher constantly on the alert to 
prevent, if possible, the first improper or imprudent 
act on the part of his pupil. The repetition of an ac- 
tion is not necessary to explain the beginning of 
habit. The teacher will remember that habit is ten- 
dency, and that it urges and facilitates action. 

Every member of the body which is used grows 
strong. The blacksmith that swings his hammer 
every day has stronger arms than the dancing-master 
or sprinter, who mostly exercises his feet. The hands 
of the working girl are larger than those of the so- 
ciety belle. The day laborer, who lifts heavy bur- 
dens, can bear greater pressure than the society man 
who spends his time in admiring himself and in 
spending his father's millions. Our powers acquire 
facility and strength only by exercise. This is every 
one's experience. Exercise not only strengthens the 
member used, it develops tendency. Repetition cre- 
ates desire or taste. Power is the result of doing. 
Muscle is developed by using muscle; thought power, 
by thinking ; moral habits are inspired and fixed by 
doing moral deeds. 

' ' The power of habit depends on the frequency of 
the repetitions of the same act or on a prolongation 
of the same impression." This fact is an every-day 
experience, and suggests much to the teacher who be- 
lieves that the pupil goes to school to be trained, that 



HABIT 329 

knowledge-getting is not the limit of education. In 
a word, habit enfeebles consciousness and passive im- 
pressions, and develops all the active operations. 
That habit enfeebles consciousness is seen in the fact 
that a phenomenon that is often repeated and is 
habitual to us becomes insensible. The chemist lives 
among foul odors without smelling them. 

" Small habits well pursued betimes 
May reacb the dignity of crimes." 

SPECIAL SCHOOL HABITS. 

The limit set for this book permits only a brief 
reference to the habits which should be acquired by 
the pupil during school life, for they constitute an 
important part of an education. These are: The 
Habit of Punctuality ; The Habit of Obedience ; The 
Habit of Attention; Moral Habits. 

Habit — Punctuality. — The habit of being punc- 
tual is the result of willing. Every tendency, every 
condition, mental, moral, and physical, is a growth. 
Every act, mental and physical, leaves a trace be- 
hind it which constitutes a disposition to perform the 
same kind of act again and in the same way. Were 
this not so we would never acquire skill in bodily ac- 
tion or freedom and facility in expressing thought. 
Punctuality becomes a habit through the will. Good 
habits cannot be formed without an effort, without a 



330 PSYCHOLOGY FOE TEACHEBS 

deliberate purpose to form them, and without a con- 
stant struggle to dislodge the opposing bad habits. 
The habit of being punctual is developed and fixed 
in only one way — by being punctual on all occasions. 
Page says: "This, as a habit, is essential to the 
teacher. He should be punctual in everything. He 
should always be present at or before the time for 
opening the school. A teacher who goes late to 
school once a week or once a month, can not enforce 
the punctual attendance of his pupils." There can 
be no excuse for a tardy teacher. 

Punctuality is more than a valuable business habit; 
it is a virtue. He who is habitually tardy takes from 
others what does not belong to him, their time. The 
tardy pupil disturbs the entire school, consumes the 
time of others, and is very expensive. No one can 
enter a schoolroom after the work of the school has 
begun without disturbing every one present. There 
would be as many tardy pupils at 9:30 as at 9:00. 
Experiment has conclusively proved that the time set 
for a performance to begin has little or nothing to do 
with the punctuality of the audience. Tardiness is 
an expensive and an annoying habit. 

" 111 habits gather by unseen degrees; 
As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas." 

Habit — Obedience. — Obedience is a habit which 

is formed by being uniformly obedient. The child 



HABIT 331 

should obey the teacher without explanation or argu- 
ment. The pupil should respect authority without 
asking the reason for the command. To permit a 
pupil to question the right of the teacher to require 
immediate and cheerful obedience on the part of his 
pupils is to question his right to govern and teach. 
To permit a pupil to discuss the propriety or impro- 
priety of a teacher's command would soon destroy 
the pupil's respect for the teacher and the school. 
The teacher, next to the mother, is responsible for 
the pupil's ideals, habits, and character. 

" No change in childhood's early day, 
No storm that raged, no thought that ran, 
But leaves a track upon the clay, 
Which slowly hardens into man." 

Habit — Attention. — The habit of giving volun- 
tary attention, the most valuable of mental habits, is 
acquired in only one way, through long and persistent 
efforts of the will. Experience proves that in a lim- 
ited way it is possible to control our mental activity ; 
we can determine its course, its steadiness, and its 
continuance on the same track. In other words, we 
can under normal conditions determine our mental 
trend at any conscious moment. Experience also 
proves that voluntary attention is increased by cer- 
tain physical attitudes. A firm erect position tends 
to increase the power of the mind to focus itself on 



332 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

the object presented to it. An erect position of the 
body and an alert eye are evidences of the activity of 
the mind, visible evidences of the state of the soul. 
On the other hand, inattention is shown by a careless, 
weary position of the body, a lifeless wandering gaze 
of the eye, and a general " don't care" expression. 

A good method commands the attention of the 
class as a class. In order to secure and hold the at- 
tention of the individual members of the class the 
teacher must be ever awake and the members of the 
class on the alert. The attention, not only of the re- 
citing pupil, but of every pupil in the class, must be 
secured and retained; hence a teacher should not 
spend much time with one pupil. If much time is 
spent with one pupil the other members of the class 
will become restless and inattentive. If the laggard 
will not do the work of the class without undue at- 
tention on the part of the teacher, put him in a lower 
class. The sooner the teacher stops begging him to 
get his lesson the sooner he will begin to study. 

Moral Habits. — To the teacher is committed a 
trust of the most sacred importance. He is called on 
to assist parents in forming the characters of those 
who must succeed us in the home and state. The 
most impressible period of child life is spent in the 
primary grades ; hence only those adapted by nature 
and especially qualified by education should be em- 



HABIT 333 

ployed to teach in those grades. Education is the 
extension of an influence on the soul of the pupil. 
This influence may be good or bad, inspiring or de- 
pressing, which, depends on the fitness, natural and 
acquired, of the teacher. Thus the personality of 
the teacher is the most effective element in the moral 
training of the pupil. 

The trustworthiness of character depends on the 
strength of the acquired habits. Moral habits show 
their strength and value in the completeness and 
promptness with which they force right action. 
" Character constitutes the only reservoir of energy 
which may be drawn upon to bring about the end 
willed." But character is the product of will. Will 
chooses, will executes, will thus determines character, 
for character is a growth. In other words, a good 
character is the end of discipline, and to assist the 
pupil in its formation is the most important part of a 
teacher's duty. 

Moral education is more than a mere belief in cer- 
tain doctrines ; it has to do with conduct. A veneer 
of moral purpose is not sufficient for the schoolroom. 
The formal recitation of moral maxims will no more 
develop moral character than the mere recitation of 
the rules of syntax will yield a command of good En- 
glish. The teacher must be what he wishes his pu- 
pils to become. Example is the great preacher as 



334 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

well as the great teacher. The well-regulated school 
teaches morality, for it trains the pupil to habits of 
industry. He must prepare his lessons; he must re- 
cite them; he must exhibit himself. He thus be- 
comes accustomed to regular employment. Industry 
is an element in moral character. 

The school teaches morality, for it trains the pupil 
to habits of regularity. He must be regular in his at- 
tendance at school. By regularity he is taught to 
recognize the value of opportunity and the rights of 
others. Regularity is an element in moral character. 

The school teaches morality, for it trains the pupil 
to habits of promptness. He must act promptly. 
This compels him to be prepared to act. He must do 
the right thing at the right time. This compels him 
to give attention, to be ever on the alert. Prompt- 
ness is an element in moral character. 

The school teaches morality, for it trains the pupil 
to habits of respect and obedience to those in legal 
authority. He must comply with the regulations of 
the school. Obedience to lawful authority is an ele- 
ment in moral character. 

The school teaches morality, for it trains the pupil 
to habits of self-control. He is compelled to guard 
his tongue and temper ; he is compelled to recognize 
the rights and feelings of his classmates. Self-con- 
trol is an element in moral character. 



HABIT 335 

The school teaches morality, for it seeks to dis- 
lodge the improper habits of the pupil and to estab- 
lish proper ones. In the conduct of life proper habits 
count for more than moral maxims, for habit is a liv- 
ing maxim. It is as easy to revise one's maxims as it 
is to change the title of a book. To dislodge a habit 
is to reach the substance of life, for life is but a tissue 
of habits. The school teaches morality, for training 
habituates the pupil to a fixed order of life, to regu- 
lated order, to regulated activity. In this manner the 
pupil acquires moral convictions, not by means of 
doctrines, but by means of life itself and the personal 
influence of the teacher. 

Finally, the school teaches morality, for the sub- 
jects taught compel the pupil to think, to feel. 
Those who claim that the public school is a Godless 
institution because some form of ceremonial secta- 
rianism does not constitute a part of the daily pro- 
gramme, have given the subject little or no thought. 
The charge made by the anti-public school people, 
that the public schools of America do not teach 
morality because they do not recognize some form of 
sectarian doctrine, is not true. A vast majority of our 
teachers exemplify worthy aims of life by precept and 
example. The ideal in every department of life is 
still the product of the imagination. 

Moral training, like mental training, is chiefly the 



336 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

result of association and personal example. Every 
properly qualified and earnest teacher is conscious 
that he can and does exercise much influence over his 
pupils. To be successful the teacher must be what 
he seems to be. He must teach by example habits 
of truthfulness, of obedience, of promptness, of in- 
dustry, and of respect for the rights of others. Cole- 
ridge has very beautifully described what the teacher 
must be, if he would lead his pupils to build high 
ideals of character : 

" O'er wayward childhood would 'st thou hold firm rule, 
And snn thee in the light of happy faces ? 
Love, Hope, and Patience — these must be thy graces; 
And in thine own heart let them first keep school." 

Habit is its own worst enemy, because old habits 
oppose the formation of new ones. This is why it is 
difficult to form new habits. The formation of a new 
habit usually involves the destruction of an old one. 
The growth of habit is much easier in early life than 
in later years, because early life is plastic, easily 
trained, and because there is less opposition from 
habits already formed. It is believed by those who 
have given the subject much attention that few peo- 
ple change their habits after twenty. The boor at 
that age will always have boorish peculiarities. It is 
well known that the strength of a habit depends on 
its age and the frequency of its recurrence. 



HABIT 337 

Habit is the reflective, mechanical, automatic ac- 
tivity which succeeds voluntary activity. Like in- 
stinct, it has sureness and infallibility. Habit influ- 
ences and in a large measure controls all our state of 
consciousness. It enables us to repeat without effort 
acts which at first were painful, tedious, and labo- 
rious. An act which has been often renewed be- 
comes an almost unconscious act. In writing we 
have little consciousness of the letters we form; in 
playing a piece on the piano we do not take account 
of the movements we execute. Habits grow in pairs. 
Dirt is usually accompanied by an inclination towards 
crime. Cleanliness creates a desire for order and 
regularity in general. Physical cleanliness exercises a 
good influence on mental life. (Teacher will show 
that habits grow in pairs.) 

Habit Saves Power. — A movement often repeated 
becomes automatic ; that is, the act is performed, if 
not unconsciously, at least subconsciously. A boy 
learning to ride a bicycle illustrates the value of repe- 
tition and what is meant by subconscious attention. 
At first the management of the machine requires all 
his attention. In a short time the boy can spin along 
talking to or listening to his companion, and paying 
no special attention to the machine, which he is 
guiding skilfully. The same mental and physical 
acts required to guide the machine have been so often 



338 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

repeated together that a habit has been formed and 
only subconscious attention is required. As with the 
boy learning to ride a bicycle, so it is with all learn- 
ing to play the piano, the violin, or to run a sewing 
machine, or a typewriter. Habit liberates attention, 
and thus saves power 

Habit Saves Time. — An analysis of the foregoing 
illustration shows that facility in action is the result 
of repetition of the same act in the same manner. At 
first the boy was compelled in order to save himself 
from a fall to give to the management of the bicycle 
concentrated, voluntary attention. Practice permit- 
ted him to transfer the management of the machine 
from the focus of consciousness to the margin of 
consciousness, and to divide his attention between the 
management of the machine and the conversation of 
his companion. What is true with regard to this 
illustration is true of all other mechanical move- 
ments. The body is a machine; the mind is the 
manager. Further study of the given example shows 
that as the boy acquired skill in the management of 
the bicycle he gained speed; that is, he saved time. 

Habit — Acquisition. — Habit aids intellectual ac- 
quisition, because the growth of the power of atten- 
tion, of close observation, of forming judicial judg- 
ments is due to habit. Many people cannot follow a 
train of thought because they have not formed the 



HABIT 339 

habit of giving attention. Experience shows that 
habit tends to become permanent and to exclude the 
formation of other habits. " Thus habit forms char- 
acter, and character determines destiny." Most hu- 
man actions are acquired by practice. The aim of 
education is the control of all inborn and acquired ac- 
tions by rational and sensible motives. Education is 
little more than a formation of correct habits. 

Habit is acquisition; that is, it is acquired by repe- 
tition. The older we get the more difficult the acqui- 
sition. This fact is partly due to conflicting habits. 
The older habit opposes the new one ; hence to learn 
a new habit means to unlearn an old one also. In 
the case of the child who has held his pen incorrectly 
a year or so the fixed habit conflicts with the effort to 
hold it correctly. This is due to the physiological 
fact that plasticity is connected with the entire char- 
acter of the tissues and their rate of destruction and 
repair. As tissues are more easily destroyed and re- 
paired in early than in later life, it follows that bad 
habits are more easily dislodged and good ones sub- 
stituted in early than in later life. With age the or- 
gans and tissues reach their full growth, and an ac- 
tual physical consolidation takes place. 

Habit — Language. — The correct use of the mother 
tongue is not the gift of grammar ; it is an acquired 
habit. Correct language must be used until it be- 



340 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

comets a habit. Incorrect and indirect statements 
should be persistently fought until the habit of using 
them is dislodged, and the habit of using correct and 
direct statements is established. The rules of gram- 
mar can only aid in acquiring a correct use of our 
mother tongue. Once it was believed that the culti- 
vation of language and the study of grammar should 
begin together. Fortunately that belief is no longer 
held by many teachers. The child should be trained 
to speak correctly from the day he utters his first 
complete sentence. During the entire life there is no 
time when one's language may not be cultivated and 
improved. There is a time, however, when the study 
of grammar has little or no value. The rules of 
grammar are hindrances until the pupil can compre- 
hend their application. 

It is unfortunate for both pupil and teacher that 
the child is not trained in the home to use correct 
language. A large majority of pupils enter school 
habituated to incorrect forms of speech. The child 
learns the forms of language used by his associates. 
If his associates use correct forms of speech he will 
unconsciously acquire the habit of using language 
correctly. On the other hand, if his associates use 
incorrect forms he will unconsciously use the same 
forms of expression. Throughout life example is the 
great teacher. One good example is worth more 



HABIT 341 

than one hundred moral precepts. Truly has Lowell 
written : ' ' An illustration is worth more than any 
amount of discourse." 

Importance of Habit. — Eeid says: "As without 
instinct the infant could not live to become a man, so 
without habit man would remain an infant through 
life, and would be as helpless, as unhandy, as speech- 
less, and as much a child in understanding at three- 
score as at three." Habit gives definiteness to life, 
mental and physical. It is the architect that builds 
the feeble and indefinite movements and purposes of 
the child into the definite movements and purposes of 
the man. It is the means whereby the child realizes 
his power to become skillful and sure. The law of 
habit tends to make us whatever we would become. 
Thus nature aids purposes. Could the young realize 
how soon they will become bundles of habit they 
would give more attention to their daily conduct. 

Good habits are valuable, not only because they 
save time and power, but because they make right 
conduct easy and certain. Good habits fix our beha- 
vior and give us standing. Habit makes it possible 
for one person to know another. Good habits are 
the surest bondsmen. The man that is habituated to 
right conduct has no struggle to decide between right 
and wrong, but immediately does the right thing. 
The sense of right conduct must become a constant 



342 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

companion before one can claim a good character or 
be trusted by others. The nature of habit is uniform 
action. The habit of telling the truth, the habit of 
observing the usual proprieties of refined society, the 
habit of close observation and discrimination, the 
habit of making judicious decisions, the habit of 
speaking no evil, the habit of observing the golden 
rule ; these form a practical and reliable education. 

Compayre says : « ' It is not exaggeration to attri- 
bute to habit a preponderant part in human life." It 
is habit which consolidates the results of our efforts, 
and spares us from making a constant appeal to the 
costly and laborious exercise of our will. Without 
it, everything must be commenced over and over 
again ; by means of it we profit by all that we have 
done. Through habit we doubtless tend to become 
automata, but intelligent automata who do over again 
without trouble only what we have once willed to do. 
It is habit which fixes the perpetual becoming of our 
existence, which arrests time that nothing else arrests. 
By means of habit the past in the living being is not 
abolished. By it the past accumulates and is in- 
cluded in the present. It holds the past, and still re- 
tains it in its possession under this concise form ; it 
has augmented its substance, and has assimilated it 
to its own nature. But habit naturally keeps alive 
the evil as well as the good. It is habit which makes 



HABIT 343 

the unity of our life and adds the present minute to 
all those which have preceded. According to the use 
which we have made of our activity in the past, shall 
we be determined in the present and in the future to 
actions which are good or bad. "Habit is a servitude, 
since it makes us the slaves of our past ; but it has 
depended upon ourselves whether this past shall lead 
us on to virtue, to knowledge, and to truth." 

Formation of Habit. — The most important of all 
tasks for the will is the formation of good habits. 
All good habits are formed and maintained under the 
effort of will. The formation of habit demands plas- 
ticity. Growth is much easier with children than 
with adults. Recent investigation has done much 
practical good in calling attention to the plasticity of 
nervous matter in early life, and in showing that the 
longer one defers the formation of a desired habit, 
the harder will be the struggle required to form it. 
It is much easier to bend the twig than the stubborn 
stem. In fact it is often impossible to bend the 
stem. Few in old age can bring to bear will-power 
sufficient to dislodge an old habit. Good habits con- 
stitute a good character. Habit is self. Habits 
measure the value of life. One is free only to the 
extent that he is master of himself, only to the ex- 
tent that he has trained his will. Horace Mann 
had no doubt tested the strength of habit when he 



344 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

wrote the following universal truth : ' ' Habit is a 
cable. We weave a thread of it every day, and at 
last we cannot break it." (The teacher will give 
two examples of the strength of habit, one of a good 
habit, one of a bad habit.) 

As habit is acquired every one is responsible for 
the kind of habits he acquires. A habit can not be 
formed without the consent of the one that acquires 
it. A habit cannot be formed if one persistently re- 
fuses to perform the given act. However, a habit 
may be formed without willing ; that is, an act may 
become habitual without the intention of forming a 
habit, yet the one who permits it to become habit is 
responsible, for he could have prevented its existence. 
The habit of getting drunk, the habit of forming 
hasty judgments, the habit of believing improbable 
statements without questioning them, the habit of 
tattling, are specimens of habits formed without in- 
tention, without conscious willing. Fortunately there 
is a provision in our nature which enables us to de- 
stroy a bad habit. An act can not take place except 
under certain conditions. We can refuse to offer the 
conditions, and thus destroy the habit. 

Habit — Thinking. — Spencer says: "When a 
man's knowledge is not in order, the more of it he 
has the greater will be his confusion of thought. 
^When the facts are not organized into faculty, the 



HABIT 345 

greater the mass of them the more will the mind 
stagger along under its burden, hampered instead of 
helped by its acquisitions." This quotation is a se- 
vere denunciation of the cramming process. It is 
also a strong; endorsement of the value of habit in the 
acquisition of knowledge. As habit saves time and 
power in the performance of physical acts, we may 
logically infer that it saves time and power in the in- 
tellectual world. Knowledge can not be gained with- 
out correct habits of thinking. Knowing is impossible 
without thinking, and correct thinking is impossible 
until the thinking process is governed by the law of 
the habit. Education is not so much reading, or so 
many facts ; it is the power to think correctly. 

Habit — Feeling. — The value of habit is clearly 
expressed in the well-established law of increasing 
automatism : ' ' Habit diminishes f eeling and increases 
activity." Learning to ride a bicycle or to operate a 
machine of any kind illustrates the truth expressed in 
this law. Every repetition of an action renders the 
action less difficult to perform and requires less atten- 
tion to perform it. As feeling depends on attention, 
it follows logically that as we decrease the amount of 
attention required to perform an act, we decrease the 
feeling accompanying the action. In fact only little 
feeling accompanies an action which has become a 
habit by repetition. Intense feeling belongs only to 



346 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHERS 

new experiences. Familiarity dulls feeling. This 
truth is illustrated in the performance of the routine 
affairs of every-day life, also in the effect of recurring 
imposing ceremonies and forms. 

" The tendency of feeling to disappear from habit- 
ual action is well known." In time the surgeon be- 
comes less open to emotional sympathy with pain 
while he is performing an operation ; the explorer, to 
the sensations incident to exposure. The drink habit 
is a strong illustration of the mental truth expressed 
in the law of increasing automatism. At first a 
small quantity of alcohol produces the desired exhil- 
arating effect. But as the system becomes accus- 
tomed to the use of the intoxicant the quantity must 
be gradually increased to produce the desired state of 
feeling. While feeling uniformly decreases as an ac- 
tion becomes habit, the activity of the two other 
phases of mind uniformly increases. The conscious- 
ness liberated in the decrease of feeling in habitual 
action is used in other directions. Loss of conscious- 
ness in a given phase of mind is gain in the other 
phases. There is no absolute loss. Nature is the 
great economist. (Teacher will illustrate this fact.) 

Moral habits are distinguished from intellectual 
habits by the presence of two hostile powers, one to 
be gradually raised into the ascendant over the other. 
In the struggle to fix the habit of right conduct it is 



HABIT 347 

important that right should win in every battle. 
Every victory on the wrong side undoes the effect of 
many victories on the right side. Every relapse 
weakens the will and makes victory more doubtful. 
A bad habit can be dislodged only by a series of un- 
interrupted successes of the opposing impulse. The 
opposing impulse must be repeated until it is strong 
enough to cope with its opposition under all circum- 
stances. (Teacher will illustrate.) 

Man is little more than habit, good or bad. Bad 
habits injure as much as good ones benefit. Educa- 
tion should therefore combine the positive acquire- 
ment of good habits and the negative work of not 
practicing bad ones. Every successful effort of the 
will to prevent the repetition of an improper habit 
tends to destroy the tendency to repeat the bad habit. 
Bad habits are destroyed only through the victories of 
the will. In a methodical life an action becomes 
almost automatic, and thus saves power and time. 
This is why habit has been described as instinctive 
action. A perfect habit is acquired instinct — a sort 
of second nature. The laws of habit are of prime 
importance in education, for the principal aim of 
school training is to induce certain habits of body and 
mind in the pupil. 



348 PSYCHOLOGY FOB TEACHEBS 

TEST QUESTIONS ON THE CHAPTER. 

1. Define habit and show that you know what it is. 

2. How is habit usually formed? Illustrate. 

3. Show that inanimate things seem to have habits. 

4. State the law of habit, and give original illustrations. 

5. What is meant by habits of motion? Give illustrations. 

6. Give three illustrations of habits of motion observed 
among your classmates. 

7. How can a bad habit be dislodged? Illustrate. 

8. What is the principal obstacle to be overcome in the 
formation of a new habit? Give two illustrations. 

9. Habits grow in pairs. Show that this statement is true. 

10. Name some ways that a well conducted school teaches 
morality. 

11. Show that habit saves power. Give two illustrations. 

12. Show that habit saves time. Give two illustrations. 

13. Show that habit is an acquisition by giving illustrations. 

14. Give three original illustrations in proof of the state- 
ment " Practice makes perfect." 

15. Why is it more difficult to form a new habit at twenty - 
five than it is at ten? 

16. What constitutes a good character. 

17. Show that habit decreases feeling and increases activity. 

18. Why is the recitation hour the heart of school life? 

19. Why does competence on the part of the teacher tend to 
arouse interest and secure attention on the part of the pupils? 

20. Show that habit aids intellectual acquisition. 

21. Why is contentment a form of death? 



INDEX 



The number refers to the page. For general topics, 
see Table of Contents. 



Abstract ideas, 11, 237 

Abstraction, 222 

Action, non-voluntary, 300 

impulsive, 300 

reflex, 300 

instinctive, 301 

voluntary, 301 

imitative, 301 v 

deliberate, 302 

Apperception, 206 

defined, 206 

retention, 207 

Association of ideas, 190 

defined, 190 

perception, 192 

by similarity, 194 

contiguity, 197 

contrast, 200 

Attention defined, 62 

consciousness, 61, 71 

voluntary, 65 

non- voluntary, 66 

law of, 67 

sensation, 72 

perception, 74 

apperception, 75 

349 



Attention, discrimination, 76 

retention, 77 

recollection, 78 

association, 79 

interest. 80 

feeling, 80 

will, 81 

action, 83 

habit, 84 

success, 85 

B 

Belief defined, 254 

sources of, 256 

kinds of, 258 

Brain, the, 15 

c 

Cerebellum, the, 16 
Cerebrum, the, 15 
Choice, 304 
Cognition, 72 
Coleridge quoted, 336 
Compayre quoted, 152, 342 
Competency, 48 
Composition, 182, 243 



350 



INDEX 



Concept, formation of, 221 

defined, 226 

percept, 231 

association, 235 

Conception, attention, 201 

perception, 234 

Consciousness, 8, 27 

field of, 28 

margin of, 28 

focus of, 28 

cognition, 71 

Contents, 5 
Cramming, 44, 155 

D 

Definition of important 

psychological terms, 22 
Deliberation, 304 
Desire defined, 303 

as motive, 303 

Drawing, 105 
writing, 105 

E 

Earnestness, 88 
Education, 37 

defined, 37, 38 

Emerson quoted, 288 
Emotion, 285 

egoistic, 285 

altruistic, 286 

intellectual, 289 

{esthetic. 291 

ethical, 293 

Enthusiasm, 49 



Faculty, capacity, 
distinguished. 23 



Feeling, 283 

defined, 284 

knowing, 294 

G 

General notions, 221 
Geography, 183 

H 

Habit, 323 

defined, 324, 325 

law of, 325 

school habits, 329 

punctuality, 329 

obedience, 330 

attention, 331 

moral habits, 331 

saves power, 337 

saves time, 338 

language, 339 

importance of, 341 

formation of, 343 

thinking. 344 

feeling, 345 

History, 183 
Holmes quoted, 57 



Ideals, 54 
Image-percept, 146 

defined, 136, 144 

Imagination, 161 

defined, 164 

processes of, 165 

kinds of, 169 

constructive, 169 

aesthetic, 172 

memory, 174 

acquisition, 177 



INDEX 



351 



Imagination, influence on the 

body, 178 

cultivation of, 180 

abuse of, 184 

Impressions, depth of, 150 
Impulse, 34 

Index, 349, 350, 351, 352 
Individual notion, 127 
Inductive and deductive 

reasoning compared, 274 
Instinct, 35 
Intellect defined, 22 
Interest, 33, 80 
Intoxicants, 346 
Introspection, 29 



Judgment, 249 

defined, 249 

reasoning, 249, 251 

kinds of, 252 

belief, 254 

unbelief, 255 

doubt, 256 

training of, 260 

K 

Kinds of objects, 167 
Knowledge denned, 25 

presentative, 25 

re-presentative, 25 

intuitive, 253 



Language, accurate use of, 245 

habit, 339 

Look within, 133 
Lowell quoted, 341 



M 

Map drawing, 104 
Medulla oblongata, 16 
Memory, 135 

defined, 137 

perception, 140 

association, 144 

interest, 148 

suggestion, 149 

cultivation of, 151 

habit, 156 

imagination, 161, 174 

Mental growth, 30 

development, 30 

Mental science, 7 
Method, 41 
Mind, 9, 12 

matter, 11 

Moral habits, 332 
Muscular sense, 21 

N 

Nerve-cells, 15 
Nerve-fibers, 14 
Nervous system, 13 

o 

One thing at a time, 126 
Oral description, 181 



Pedagogics, psychology, 214 
Perception, 31, 108 

defined, 113 

elements of, 115 

sensation, 116 

attention, 117 



352 



INDEX 



Perception, habit, 124 

recollection, 147 

Percepts, images, concepts, 236 

Physical condition, 90 

Preface, 3, 4 

Psychic — Psychical, 22 

Psychology defined, 9 

limitations of, 35 

Q 

Questions, 58, 59, 60, 92, 134, 
160, 188, 218, 248, 282, 322, 
348. 

E 

Reading, 104 
Reasoning, 31, 265 

implicit, 267 

explicit, 268 

inductive, 268 

deductive, 271 

defective, 276 

Reid quoted, 341 
Representation, 26 
Retention, 138 
Reviews, importance of, 130 

s 

Saxe quoted, 242 
Schaeffer quoted, 6, 310 
Self, 22 

Self-consciousness, 27 
Self-control, 315 
Sensation, 93 

defined, 96 

attention, 97 

perception, 97 

feeling, 98 



Sensation, discrimination, 98 

intensity of, 100 

Sense — sense organs, 17 
Senses, the, 17 

training of, 101 

Sensibility defined, 22 
Spencer quoted, 344 
Suggestion, 149 

T 

Teaching, 40 

defined, 40 

Tennyson quoted, 28 
The teacher, 159 
Thinking, 31, 229 

defined, 229 

Thinking, aspects of, 230 
Thought defined, 228 

language, 278 

Truth, 259 

u 

Unbelief, 255 
Understanding essential, 152 



Volition, 304 



V 



w 



Whitney quoted, 247 
Will, the, 298 

attention, 305 

habit, 307 

weak, 311 

strong, 312 

training of, 312 

character, 321 

Wordsworth quoted, 290 



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